Stacey Young, executive director and founder of Justice Connection, today issued the following statement following the release of a report on the FACE Act and the firing of prosecutors who enforced it.
“DOJ’s current leaders’ textbook cruelty and hypocrisy are on full display in this report. They insist on zealous advocacy by career staff in advancing the President’s priorities, while shaming and firing those who did just that in the prior administration. They’ve put career employees on notice: if they do their jobs, they face potential termination if future political leadership disagrees with the policy goals of prior leadership.”
Enforcement priorities shift from administration to administration. Career staff at the Justice Department understand this and adjust their approach based on the new policies and procedures issued by new leaders.The report released today exhibits how that shift is executed – career staff worked within the law to comply with an enforcement priority of the Attorney General.
Since the FACE Act was passed by Congress with bipartisan support and signed into law in 1994, career prosecutors have enforced the law’s provisions that promote safe access to reproductive health services. The constitutionality of that part of the law has been upheld consistently by the federal judiciary.
Under every administration, career attorneys have taken seriously their responsibility to zealously advocate on behalf of the United States. This administration, however, officially declared Justice Department attorneys are the President’s lawyers, and that he is their chief client. They have been instructed to ignore court orders, misrepresent facts, and make arguments with no basis in the law.
That desire to push the boundaries of the law has extended to this administration’s use of the FACE Act. For decades, career prosecutors at the Justice Department have intentionally not enforced the statute’s religious-worship provision because of significant constitutional and legal risks. These risks are explained in a Justice Connection Substack post following the department’s decision to charge Don Lemon and several others under this part of the FACE Act.
Justice Connection remains committed to standing up for DOJ’s career workforce and ensuring they have the support to carry out their important role in upholding the rule of law.
