Mass Exodus Hits Exhausted DOJ Team Defending Trump in Court

[Jilly_in_VA]

Roughly two-thirds of exasperated Department of Justice lawyers tasked with fielding the constant legal challenges to President Donald Trump’s policies have quit in frustration.

Around 69 of the 110 lawyers who work in the DOJ’s Federal Programs Branch, which responds to lawsuits against the administration, have left their roles since the 2024 election, Reuters reports.

One lawyer who left the unit said staff have become demoralized and frustrated by the nonstop barrage of legal challenges to Trump’s policies, which include the administration’s attempts to do away with birthright citizenship, detain and deport migrants without due process, impose tariffs on U.S. trading partners, and reshape the federal bureaucracy. At least four lawyers said they quit over concerns that Trump’s steps to gut federal agencies and block funding to institutions like Harvard University violate the Constitution.

“Many of these people came to work at Federal Programs to defend aspects of our constitutional system,” one departed DOJ lawyer told Reuters. “How could they participate in the project of tearing it down?”

https://www.thedailybeast.com/exhausted-doj-team-defending-trump-in-court-hit-by-mass-exodus/

How long can you defend the indefensible?

[pfitz59]

1. Defending criminal acts

vice prosecuting them. If any of the extorted 'pro bono' law firms step up the judge should immediately disqualify them. Better yet, disbar them.

[Ms. Toad]

2. There - fixed it for them.

One lawyer who left the unit said staff have become demoralized and frustrated by the nonstop barrage of legal challenges to Trump’s policies, which include the administration’s attempts to do away with birthright citizenship, detain and deport migrants without due process, impose tariffs on U.S. trading partners, and reshape the federal bureaucracy.

One lawyer who left the unit said staff have become demoralized and frustrated by the administration's nonstop barrage of attempts to do away with birthright citizenship, detain and deport migrants without due process, impose tariffs on U.S. trading partners, and reshape the federal bureaucracy, all of which resulted in legal challenges these layers are are forced to defend, even when they believe such attempts violate the constitution.

Those challenges didn't just come out of nowhere. It is the administration's actions which forced the hand of people and entities whose job it is to prevent government overreach. Without the unconstitutional actions, there woudl be no barrage of legal challenges.