200+ Former DOJ Civil Rights Attorneys Warn Division Is Being "Destroyed" Under Trump Administration

WASHINGTON — More than 200 former attorneys and staff from the U.S. Justice Department's Civil Rights Division published an open letter on the division's 68th anniversary accusing senior leaders of dismantling its core mission to protect vulnerable Americans.

Allegations From Former Staff

The letter, published by Justice Connection — an advocacy group formed by a former division attorney — names Attorney General Pam Bondi and Assistant Attorney General Harmeet Dhillon and alleges that they have terminated or abandoned high-profile cases involving sexual harassment and assault, police brutality and voting inequities. Signatories say leadership has pressured investigators to "find facts to fit the Administration's pre-determined outcomes."

"Most of us planned to stay at the division following the 2024 election. But after witnessing this Administration destroy much of our work, we made the heartbreaking decision to leave," the letter reads.

Key Changes Cited

Former employees say the division has sharply shifted enforcement priorities, including dropping or refusing new consent decrees used to address police misconduct, excessive use of force and segregation in public schools. The letter also says the division has lost roughly 75% of its attorneys since January, which signatories describe as part of a "coordinated effort" to drive staff out.

Robyn Bitner, one of the letter's organizers and a former trial attorney who worked on civil rights investigations involving juveniles, said the group hopes the public will learn of the changes and take action: "We want the American people to be our first audience. They are the people whose rights we are protecting. We want the public to know what is happening."

Regan Rush, the former chief of the section that led civil rights investigations into police abuses, told Reuters: "The new priorities of the division are really rooted in partisan politics, and not protecting the rights of all."

Justice Department Response

The Justice Department has defended its changes as restoring the Civil Rights Division to its original mission. A department spokesperson said in September the division has been "restored to its original mission of protecting the constitutional rights of all Americans, instead of pursuing a targeted political agenda against administration opponents."

Assistant Attorney General Harmeet Dhillon wrote on X on Dec. 6: "The weaponization of consent decrees ended when I took over the Civil Rights Division."

Background

The Civil Rights Division was established under the 1957 Civil Rights Act to help dismantle Jim Crow segregation and to protect voting rights. The dispute underscores a broader clash over how civil rights enforcement is defined and implemented within the department.

(Reporting by Sarah N. Lynch in Washington; Editing by Scott Malone and Matthew Lewis)