"Courts and the public can't trust DOJ to enforce the law fairly and effectively when the administration hires lawbreakers to fill high-level positions," said Stacey Young, a former Justice Department attorney who founded the nonprofit advocacy group Justice Connection.

A coalition of former Justice Department officials, attorneys, agents and employees has issued an 11th hour plea to Senators to block Blanche’s confirmation. The group, Justice Connection, issued a statement, which said: “Todd Blanche’s craven assurances do nothing to ensure that the Justice Department will cease its vindictive prosecutions, stop violating court orders and attacking judges, commit to complying with the Epstein Files Transparency Act, end its devastating assault on its own workforce, or start prioritizing the interests of the people over the President’s. They also won’t prohibit the department from continuing to make corrupt payments to the President’s allies through other means, or end the unprecedented and iniquitous tax immunity deal for the President, his family, and their businesses.”

The effort is part of a broader campaign involving former Justice Department attorneys who have organized against the Trump administration⁠. Several of the prosecutors who signed the letter have signed similar letters critical of the administration coordinated by Justice Connection, a nonprofit group of former DOJ attorneys that assembled after Trump returned to office and has worked to run interference against his agenda.

The Justice Connection’s Stacey Young joins us to discuss just how dangerous it would be to confirm Todd Blanche as Attorney General.

Stacey Young joined Tim to discuss the Trump Administration’s tangible impacts on the Department of Justice’s integrity. Young underscored that Todd Blanche’s personal loyalty to Trump makes him utterly unqualified to represent the United States.

Justice Connection, a network of department alumni…warned in its filing that a “politicized” FBI could turn against citizens because of their speech, association or perceived disloyalty. “The Constitution,” the filing said, “is designed to prevent precisely this kind of abuse.”

All told, said Rupa Bhattacharyya, a former Justice Department attorney who managed victim compensation funds for the department, the order “feels like a very political move to get the nomination advanced.”

Justice Connection FBI Advisory Committee member and former acting director of the FBI Brian Driscoll reflects on his decades-long tenure at the department and the state of the FBI under its current leadership.

Stacey Young sat down with Glenn Kirschner to discuss the postponement of the Senate Judiciary Committee’s vote on Todd Blanche’s nomination.

Executive Director Stacey Young joins Federal Drive to discuss why more than 1,200 former Justice Department officials took the unusual step of publicly opposing the nomination of Todd Blanche as Attorney General. Beyond the confirmation debate itself, the episode raises questions about trust, morale and the environment facing career employees.

Stacey Young sits down with Joyce Vance to discuss the many ways that Blanche is terminally unsuited for the role of Attorney General.

The FBI’s operational secrecy is meant to safeguard the sources, methods, and ongoing investigations that protect the nation. Under Patel, we’re losing that.

"I don't think this will make any dent in the administration's deportation goals," said Stacey Young, a former DOJ lawyer, describing denaturalization as slow-moving and, to a certain degree, unscalable. "I think it does send a message that naturalized citizenship is impermanent and precarious."

Justice Connection’s FBI Support Network Director Michael Feinberg joins Alicia Menendez with analysis of Peter Carr’s testimony that Todd Blanche’s leadership has severely damaged the DOJ career workforce.

Ari Melber and former FBI general counsel Andrew Weissman discuss Peter Carr’s testimony before a Senate spotlight forum.

In a video for the Justice Connection coalition, Ty Cobb, a former prosecutor and lawyer in Trump's first administration, explained why the Justice Department should have a less compromised nominee.

Former Justice Department spokesman Peter Carr joins The Weeknight to discuss the weaponization of the Justice Department after he testified in protest of acting Attorney General Todd Blanche’s nomination.

Peter Carr, a longtime department spokesperson fired by Blanche in April 2025, estimated the department has lost 19,000 employees, including 30% of its attorneys and 10% of its FBI special agents.

Todd Blanche's firings of career DOJ employees aren't just unlawful, "they are also incredibly damaging to the department and its law enforcement mission."

“If Todd Blanche is confirmed as Attorney General, there will be no ethical lines between the White House and the Attorney General. There are no lines now,” says Cobb.

Legal experts like Stacey Young, from Justice Connection, emphasize the importance of disparate-impact liability in addressing unintentional discriminatory outcomes.

Never before has this many DOJ alumni publicly spoken out against an AG nominee. Castigating those signatories, considering the level of alumni support Blanche received, is the height of hypocrisy.

Former SDNY prosecutors write in an op-ed for MS Now that the judgment Blanche has displayed since becoming a senior Justice Department leader should disqualify him.

Based on input from subject matter experts in Justice Connection’s DOJ alumni network, we prepared questions for the record that Blanche should answer before Senators vote on his nomination.

Opponents of Blanche’s confirmation as Attorney General continue their pressure campaign. Former DC police officer Michael Fanone, who was beaten horribly during the US Capitol Insurrection, has produced a video urging Senators to vote against Blanche. Joined by a former Justice Department prosecutor, Fanone’s video said: “Todd Blanche does not serve justice. He serves criminals who beat up cops and assaulted our democracy.”

More than 1,200 former DOJ employees sent a letter to the Senate Judiciary Committee Wednesday in unified opposition to Blanche’s confirmation, writing that Blanche has “utterly failed” his oath to support and defend the Constitution.

“Each of these offices was created to operate independently by law for important reasons. They’re run by people trained to help the specific communities the offices were designed to serve - like victims of domestic violence, local law enforcement agencies and crime victims,” said Stacey Young, a former Justice Department attorney and founder of Justice Connection. Young, whose group helps serve former agency employees, also said, “This unnecessary consolidation will mean that specialized leadership will be muddled or lost. The beneficiaries of these vital programs will bear the consequences.”

Former AUSA Mike Gordon and MPD Officer Michael Fanone say “Todd Blanche does not serve justice.”

A group of 1,200 Justice Department alumni have urged the Senate not to confirm Blanche, saying he has pulled employees from critical work to focus on immigration enforcement and other Trump initiatives and warning that the department could continue to bleed staff.

The fear of potential retribution could be one reason only a handful of Blanche’s former SDNY colleagues signed a letter from more than 1,200 former DOJ employees opposing his nomination.

Weakening civil-service protections will not make DOJ more accountable. It will make career lawyers more fearful, more political, and less independent.

The Justice Connection and founder Stacey Young, a former long-time DOJ attorney and darling of the Trump-hating corporate media who holds a seething hatred for Trump, released a letter last week listing the names of 1,200-plus Justice Department employees urging the Senate to vote against Blanche’s confirmation.

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 as he prepares for confirmation hearings next week on July 15 and 16.

Live video with Frank Figliuzzi and Stacey Young, executive director and founder of Justice Connection.

During a sit-down interview with a local TV station, Mr. Blanche wryly dismissed a scathing letter, signed by 1,200 former department employees, calling on the Senate to reject his nomination.

The list of reasons Blanche should not be confirmed is longer than what we have time to review tonight, but these give you an idea. More than 1200 former federal prosecutors oppose the nomination, an unprecedented development.

More than 1,200 former agents, analysts, immigration judges, lawyers and other staffers wrote to the Senate Judiciary Committee on Monday detailing why they are against making him the attorney general. “Since his confirmation as deputy attorney general, Todd Blanche has shown time and again that his guiding star is fealty to the President, not the Constitution,” Stacey Young, executive director and founder of Justice Connection, a Washington-based organization for department alumni, said in a statement. “That fealty led to the purge of thousands of experienced career employees.”

Attorney General-Nominee Todd Blanche, who has already shown that he is more than willing to do President Trump’s bidding, will appear before the Senate Judiciary Committee for his confirmation hearing. Stacey Young and Joyce Vance join The Weekend to discuss why the Senate should reject his confirmation.

This week, just days before his confirmation hearing, more than 1,200 former Department of Justice employees urged the Senate Judiciary Committee to reject Blanche’s nomination, warning that he has compromised the DOJ’s independence and integrity. The Justice Connection deserves credit for organizing this extraordinary, unprecedented effort, bringing together DOJ alumni from 14 administrations with thousands of years of collective experience in defense of the Justice Department.

In an extraordinary defense of norms that date back to the founding fathers, [Ty] Cobb and 1,200 of his colleagues have formed the Justice Connection. They have written a blistering letter on the clear and present danger Blanche poses to the country.

Justice Connection, a network of DoJ alumni, this month sent a letter to the committee in charge of Blanche’s confirmation hearing, signed by more than 1,200 former DoJ employees. They urged it to reject Blanche’s nomination, pointing to what they said were the “corruption and abuses that have defined the justice department” under his leadership and his “degradation” of the department’s workforce.