Justice Connection Statement on Todd Blanche's Confirmation
Stacey Young, executive director of Justice Connection, issued a statement on the confirmation of Todd Blanche to serve as Attorney General.
“Bolstering the legitimacy of the most corrupt and captured department head in DOJ’s history will have grave consequences for its career workforce and independence.
“Unlike most nominees who come before the Senate, Todd Blanche has spent four months as DOJ’s top dog and a year as second-in-charge. He’s used that time to shred DOJ’s institutional norms, destroy important offices, revictimize sex crime survivors, eviscerate accountability for January 6, attack the career workforce. By serving as the president’s sword and shield, he’s unraveled the rule of law – leaving our rights, economic interests, safety, and democracy on shaky ground.
“In announcing his decision to vote to confirm Blanche, Senator Cassidy said ‘morale is high’ among career employees. He has clearly not spoken to any. Under Blanche’s leadership, they’ve endured an unprecedented assault on their integrity, mission-critical work, and employment rights.
“Nearly 20,000 career employees have left the department, many of whom were fired or forced out for doing their jobs. This is a generational loss of institutional knowledge and expertise that will be impossible to replace. Today’s vote is an affront to the dedicated public servants still there, as they struggle to uphold the law under a leader who doesn’t.
“The senators who voted to cement Blanche’s reign at DOJ displayed the same craven fealty to the president that defines Blanche’s leadership. It would serve those senators well to remember that they — just like the thousands of dedicated civil servants Blanche drove out of the department — also swore an oath to support and defend the Constitution.”
Over the last two months, Justice Connection mounted a lengthy, coordinated campaign against Blanche’s nomination on behalf of the career workforce at the Justice Department. We created a webpage to highlight all that we have done to fight this nomination. We are grateful for the many DOJ alumni who supported our efforts.
