A Reuters investigation has uncovered a notable stat about Justice Department lawyers: Nearly two-thirds of the department's Federal Programs Branch—the unit tasked with defending key Trump administration policies in court—have left their positions since President Trump's election. Out of about 110 attorneys, 69 have either resigned or announced their intention to do so, a level of attrition that far outpaces the usual mark. The White House shrugged off the trend with a good-riddance sentiment.
Reuters spoke with seven of these attorneys, and they suggest a mix of exhaustion and unease over defending a mounting wave of legal challenges to Trump's agenda, including attempts to restrict birthright citizenship and defund institutions such as Harvard. Three cited ethical concerns, saying they feared they would be pushed to make questionable legal arguments or even misrepresent facts. The story might be summed up by two competing quotes:
- From an attorney: "Many of these people came to work at Federal Programs to defend aspects of our constitutional system," says one of the attorneys who recently left. "How could they participate in the project of tearing it down?"
- From the White House: "Any sanctimonious career bureaucrat expressing faux outrage over the president's policies while sitting idly by during the rank weaponization by the previous administration has no grounds to stand on," says spokesperson Harrison Fields in a statement.
Read the
full story.
,
uBlock 
,
and
Ghostery 
)
