Justice Connection: Year One
We launched Justice Connection one year ago this week because we knew Justice Department employees would need support under the Trump administration. Sadly, the need for that support is far greater than we could’ve imagined.
The attacks on DOJ’s workforce, institutional norms and integrity have been relentless. The administration has purged over 6,400 career employees, outright firing hundreds of them. It’s weaponized DOJ’s prosecutorial power to punish the president’s foes and protect his friends. It’s decimated offices that enforce environmental laws, protect civil rights laws, prosecute public corruption, and counter terrorism.
But despite this assault, there remain brave, dedicated employees inside the department who, with our help, are doing everything in their power to keep enforcing the law without fear or favor.
Justice Connection is the only organization focused on supporting them. We’re able to do that because as former DOJ employees ourselves, we have the trust of those still there – and we figured out how to provide them with the help they need.
Current Programs Supporting DOJ Employees
Attorneys, agents, analysts, and many others inside the department continue to have the heavy responsibility of slowing democratic decline. With the help of thousands of DOJ alumni in our network – along with generous donors who understand the need for this work – we’ve been able to provide vital support to our former colleagues at one of the most critical times in the department’s history.
Legal Support. The Justice Connection Legal Network, the only network of its kind, connects DOJ employees with pro bono alumni attorneys willing to represent them when they’re fired, facing criminal or congressional investigations, navigating ethical quandaries, or considering whether to blow the whistle. The network’s hundreds of volunteer lawyers, to whom Justice Connection provides training and malpractice insurance, represent our former colleagues at a time when they often can’t find or afford counsel.
Mental Health Support. The administration carried out its promise to put employees “in trauma.”. With the help of alumni who led large trauma-focused offices at DOJ, we’re connecting employees with licensed clinicians we recruited who’ve agreed to provide them with counseling. We also offer a suite of mental health resources on our website. It’s an important way we’re helping employees continue to work.
Employment Support. In a historically tight market, finding new jobs is challenging for DOJ employees who’ve been forced out or fear they will be. We’ve sponsored job events and connected employees to jobs and resources, and our Employment Support Network connects them with a long list of DOJ alumni who are providing them with informational interviews.
Media Support. For alumni who want to speak out publicly about what’s happening to the department they served, we provide media training, help place their op-eds, and publish their perspectives on our Substack.
Keeping the Attention on Attacks on DOJ
We also speak out every day about what’s happening to DOJ’s workforce and the democratic norms that protect us all.
National Media Megaphone. Justice Connection has become the go-to source for information and perspectives about the assault on the department. National media outlets have featured our work and perspective almost 200 times in just one year. We’ve also used paid ads on Fox News, press releases, and social media to raise awareness nationwide.
Leveraging the Power of DOJ Alumni. The most powerful voices to push back on the corruption and abuse at DOJ are from those who once carried out its mission. We’ve harnessed them in important ways:
We’ve produced short videos featuring DOJ alumni to reach people outside traditional news outlets, something we’ll do more of in 2026.
We’re publishing multiple pieces a month on our Substack, where alumni experts provide in-depth analysis on events at DOJ that make national headlines – and those that should.
Our DOJ alumni network has thousands of members, and we connect them to journalists every day so DOJ reporting is informed by perspectives from the experts.
We memorialized departing messages from career employees who were pushed out of DOJ, so the public could learn from their wisdom and warnings.
We worked closely with Civil Rights Division alumni to draw national attention to the decimation of the division, and what it means for all Americans.
We organized thousands of alumni to sign a series of public letters – speaking out against politicized prosecutions, the violation of court orders, and attacks on the workforce. Each of these efforts garnered national media coverage and drew widespread attention to the administration’s assault on the rule of law.
Preserving a record for history. We’re countering the administration’s “flood the zone” strategy by maintaining a comprehensive tracker of attacks on DOJ, ensuring that critical events are catalogued and searchable. As the only tracker focused on DOJ, it’s become an essential resource for reporters, Congress, and the public.
Pushing Congress to Push Back. We’ve testified twice at hearings about the assault on DOJ, and we’ve connected congressional offices with witnesses for many more. We were also the leading organization speaking out on the Hill and in the media against the nomination of Emil Bove for one of the highest courts in the land, after he disgraced the department during his short tenure as a senior political appointee. Our campaign included organizing alumni to lobby Senate offices, sounding the alarm in the press, creating videos, and closely supporting the brave whistleblowers who went public with accounts of Bove’s lawless reign.
These are just some of the public examples of how we have fought to highlight that our country’s safety, prosperity, and rights depend on an institution that is under attack. We’ll continue speaking out about what’s happening to DOJ’s mission-critical work and its employees, especially when it’s too dangerous for those in the trenches to do it themselves.
Together We Can Defend What Remains of the Rule of Law
Justice Connection will keep leading the charge to protect what remains of the rule of law by supporting those who enforce it at DOJ – and by sounding the alarm from the outside.
As we said in a video last year, now is the time to speak up for Justice. We encourage Americans everywhere to join us as we carry our work into the years ahead.
