Labor & Employment Law Daily Wrap Up, DOJ NEWS—Nearly 300 career employees who’ve departed Justice Department under Trump sign letter of concern, (Oct 9, 2025)
By Brandi O. Brown, J.D.
They contend that the Justice Department is “failing on all three fronts” of its mission “to uphold the rule of law, to keep our country safe, and to protect civil rights.”
Nearly 300 former DOJ career employees have signed a letter calling on “all Americans to fight for the department” in a move that coincided with Attorney General Pam Bondi’s testimony before the Senate Judiciary Committee. Her testimony came days after the end of the Deferred Resignation Program which resulted in the separation of approximately 4,500 employees from the department, the group notes.
Listed by departure months. Each signature on the letter is from a career employee who has left the department since January, whether voluntarily or involuntarily, and includes prosecutors, special agents, intelligence analysts, immigration judges, grant managers, and others. Poignantly, the names are organized amongst departures occurring in January 2025, February 2025, March 2025, April 2025, May 2025, June 2025, July 2025, August 2025, September 2025 (the longest list), and October 2025.
The letter argues that the DOJ “cannot uphold the rule of law when it carries out the President’s retribution campaign and protects his allies; violates court orders and evades due process requirements; directs attorneys to violate their ethical responsibilities; and fires its employees without notice or cause in violation of civil service laws.”
It also argues that the department “cannot keep our country safe when it ousts FBI employees, prosecutors, national security experts, and ATF officials; shutters offices that prevent community violence and dismantle drug trafficking operations; purges the attorneys who enforce laws that protect the environment; and shifts highly trained special agents away from counterintelligence and counterterrorism.”
Civil rights unprotected. Finally, it contends that the DOJ “cannot protect civil rights when it drives out 75% of attorneys from the Civil Rights Division and refuses to enforce the nation’s civil rights laws as Congress intended, using them instead as a cudgel against marginalized groups.”
The campaign was organized by the Justice Connection, which is a network of Justice Department alumni who have mobilized to “support DOJ’s apolitical workforce and the democratic norms that protect us all.”
News: AgencyNews PublicEmployees WhiteHouseNews Layoffs LaborNews