Staffing Reductions at Justice's Federal Programs Branch

According to Reuters reporting in July 2025, the Federal Programs Branch — the Department of Justice unit within the Civil Division tasked with defending against legal challenges to administration policies — had lost nearly two-thirds of its staff. According to a list compiled by former Department lawyers and reviewed by Reuters, 69 of the roughly 110 lawyers in the Branch had voluntarily left the unit since President Trump's November 2024 election or had announced plans to leave; Reuters verified the departure of all but four names through court records and LinkedIn accounts. At least 10 of the unit's 23 supervisors were among those who departed, many of them veteran litigators who had served under both Republican and Democratic administrations. Former lawyers told Reuters that some staffers had grown demoralized and exhausted, and that at least three had left fearing they would face sanctions for refusing departmental pressure to misstate facts in court or otherwise violate ethics rules. To fill the gap, the Department reassigned lawyers from other sections, exempted the unit from the federal hiring freeze, and brought in roughly 15 political appointees.