Magnifying DOJ alumni voices to support current employees and preserve the rule of law.
Todd Blanche’s Attorney General nomination
More than 1,200 former DOJ employees opposed Todd Blanche’s nomination in a letter to the Senate Judiciary Committee.
Sample press coverage (Fox News): “Roughly 1,200 Department of Justice (DOJ) alumni signed off on a letter on Tuesday sent to high-ranking Senate Judiciary Committee leaders demanding they reject elevating Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche.”
Clips of senators discussing letter:
An urgent message from recent DOJ employees
In an open letter, nearly 300 employees who left during this administration decried attacks on DOJ’s workforce.
Sample news coverage (ABC News): “On Monday, nearly 300 DOJ employees who left the department since Trump’s inauguration released a letter on the eve of Bondi’s hearing describing her leadership as ‘appalling’ in its treatment of the career workforce and the elimination of longstanding norms of independence from the White House. ‘We call on Congress to exercise its oversight responsibilities far more vigorously,’ the former employees said. ‘Members in both chambers and on both sides of the aisle must provide a meaningful check on the abuses we’re witnessing. And we call on all Americans – whose safety, prosperity, and rights depend on a strong DOJ – to speak out against its destruction.'"
Clip of letter being discussed during a Senate hearing:
Emil Bove’s Third Circuit nomination
More than 900 former DOJ attorneys expressed alarm over former senior DOJ official Emil Bove’s judicial nomination in a letter to the Senate Judiciary Committee.
Sample press coverage (New York Times): “The former lawyers said that few actions would cause greater damage to the rule of law than a senior official in the executive branch flouting the authority of the judiciary. They argued that Mr. Bove’s leadership had undermined the work of the Justice Department. ‘Mr. Bove’s trampling over institutional norms in this case, and in others, sent shock waves through the ranks — cratering morale, triggering mass departures, and eroding the effectiveness of DOJ’s vital work,’ the letter said.”
Clip of letter being discussed on the Senate floor:
Civil Rights Division Changes
Hundreds of recent Civil Rights Division spoke out against the administration’s decimation of the division (written by employees themselves and submitted to Justice Connection for publication).
Sample press coverage (Associated Press): “Justice Connection, which supports Justice Department employees, released a letter from over 900 former federal prosecutors to career federal prosecutors that said they have ‘watched with alarm’ as values ‘foundational to a fair and justice legal system” have been tested in the past week. In the letter, the former prosecutors said they ‘salute and admire the courage many of you have already exhibited. You have responded to ethical challenges of a type no public servant should ever be forced to confront with principle and conviction, in the finest traditions of the Department of Justice.’”
A message of support to DOJ prosecutors
More than 900 former DOJ prosecutors signed a letter of support to current prosecutors, after a wave of them in the Southern District of New York and the Public Integrity Section resigned after being asked to violate their ethical responsibilities in the Eric Adams case.
Sample press coverage (Associated Press): “Justice Connection, which supports Justice Department employees, released a letter from over 900 former federal prosecutors to career federal prosecutors that said they have ‘watched with alarm’ as values ‘foundational to a fair and justice legal system” have been tested in the past week. In the letter, the former prosecutors said they ‘salute and admire the courage many of you have already exhibited. You have responded to ethical challenges of a type no public servant should ever be forced to confront with principle and conviction, in the finest traditions of the Department of Justice.’”
Departure Letters: Wisdom & Warnings
“If no lawyer within earshot of the President is willing to give him that advice, then I expect you will eventually find someone who is enough of a fool, or enough of a coward, to file your motion. But it was never going to be me.”
– Hagan Scotten, Southern District of New York
“I can’t with a clean conscience defend actions by our clients that I cannot square with even the most tortured reading of the U.S. Code and Constitution, or basic principles of fairness and humanity.”
– Joseph Darrow, Office of Immigration Litigation
“[My departure] is the inevitable result of hollow leadership that disregards longstanding interpretations of civil rights law, upends Division and Departmental norms, and values perceived loyalty above the meritocratic principles it claims to espouse.”
– Barbara Schwabauer, Civil Rights Division
Read Justice Connection’s collection of departure messages from some of the thousands of DOJ employees this administration purged.
