Stacey Young, executive director and founder of Justice Connection, issued the following statement after President Trump fired Pam Bondi as Attorney General of the United States:
“Pam Bondi took a sledgehammer to the Justice Department and its workforce. DOJ’s independence, integrity, and workforce have degraded more under her leadership than at any other time during the department’s 155-year history. What she destroyed in a year could take decades to rebuild. But we have a President who fired her because she didn’t go far enough. Replacing her with a more competent Attorney General who – like her – believes their sole client is the President and not the country may just make things worse. We need the Senate to exercise its constitutional check to ensure that doesn’t happen.”
Bondi has overseen a massive purge of the Justice Department’s apolitical career workforce, resulting in the departure of nearly 16,000 employees and the loss of decades of institutional knowledge.
On her first day in office, Attorney General Pam Bondi issued a “zealous advocacy” memo that officially declared Justice Department attorneys are the President’s lawyers – explicitly subverting the Justice Department’s traditional duty to impartially enforce federal laws and uphold the Constitution. The memo threatened that any attorney who refuses to advance the administration’s good-faith arguments due to personal political views will face discipline or potential termination. She has made good on that promise, firing almost 270 employees, often without cause and in violation of civil service laws.
Under Bondi, the Justice Department’s prosecutorial powers have been overtly used to protect the President’s allies and punish his perceived enemies.
Because of her willingness to ignore court orders, misrepresent facts, and make arguments with no basis in the law, Justice Department lawyers have lost their “presumption of regularity” with the courts. Judges no longer believe the department is operating in good faith and telling the truth. This loss of credibility extends to the public as well, with grand juries across the country increasingly refusing to indict cases brought by the Justice Department.
