Politics
DOJ Accidentally Sent The Chart Proving It Has No Lawyers To The People It Is Suing
By Mor Michael, . BSN Network. Satire.
The United States Department of Justice, the institution legally responsible for representing the federal government in court, has spent the last several months systematically eliminating the people who do that, according to internal documents the department accidentally distributed to parties it is currently in litigation with before asking for them back.
The charts, obtained by The Hill and NewsNation after apparently being recalled by DOJ officials, show attorney headcount in the civil division falling at a pace that one former federal litigator described as "a org chart becoming a Post-it note." Caseloads, for their part, have continued to arrive as scheduled.
The civil division handles cases involving federal contracts, immigration enforcement litigation, consumer protection, and the accumulated legal exposure of a government that does things constantly. None of those cases have agreed to be postponed while the administration locates replacement staff.
Attorney General Pam Bondi addressed the situation in a statement notable for its confidence. "The Department of Justice is leaner, more focused, and better positioned than ever before to advance the President's legal priorities," she said. "We have eliminated redundancy, increased accountability, and are proud to be doing more with significantly less, which is a phrase we are using voluntarily and not because we have to."
Sources familiar with the department's internal scheduling describe a civil division that has begun triaging which active cases receive a lawyer and which receive what one paralegal called "a very stern placeholder filing."
The accidental distribution of the charts is itself a small masterpiece of institutional irony. The documents were shared, apparently in error, with recipients outside the department, then recalled via a follow-up email. The recall email was also reviewed by people outside the department. A third communication clarifying the status of the recall is, at time of publication, being drafted by someone.
Former DOJ civil division attorneys, several of whom were among the staff reductions the charts document, declined to comment at length. One, reached by phone, said only: "I would have caught that."
The Trump administration has framed the reductions as a purge of ideologically compromised career staff, a necessary correction to a department that had, in its telling, been weaponized against the right people. What the charts suggest is that the correction has also reduced the department's ability to weaponize itself against anyone, which was not in the press release.
Congress has not scheduled hearings on the staffing crisis. Several relevant subcommittees have open counsel positions.
The story we are making fun of: https://thehill.com/homenews/administration/6110198-doj-staffing-crisis-trump/