Exit or Loyalty: The Ethical Crisis Facing DOJ Lawyers in the Trump Era
At the United States Department of Justice, approximately thirty per cent of attorneys—numbering more than four thousand lawyers—have exited their positions since the start of 2025, according to a May analysis of federal-employment data published by the Times.
The Exodus of Federal Attorneys and the Rule of Law
The predicament described in Hirschman’s book regarding exit versus loyalty is currently playing out for civil servants across the federal government. For lawyers at the Department of Justice, whose core mission is upholding the rule of law, the stakes of this dilemma have proven exceptionally high. Stacey Young, an attorney in the department’s Civil Rights Division, exited almost immediately after Trump’s inauguration.
Following her departure, Young founded Justice Connection, a nonprofit organization launched with support from the Government Accountability Project. The organization assists current and former Department of Justice employees dealing with ethical and professional crises by connecting them with legal counsel and mental-health services. The group’s website hosts an archive of resignation letters submitted by departing attorneys. One resigning lawyer wrote that they could not with a clean conscience defend client actions that defied the U.S. Code and Constitution. Another stated they would not serve that current incarnation of the department.
Personal Stakes and Professional Decisions
The departures extend beyond Washington to field offices nationwide. Six federal prosecutors in Minnesota resigned after facing pressure to investigate the widow of Renée Good, a U.S. citizen killed by an ICE agent on January 7th. Young noted that these litigators sacrificed their careers to uphold professional integrity rather than simply requesting transfers to different dockets.
Contrary to characterizations of a partisan bureaucracy, departing attorneys typically describe themselves as apolitical. Celia Cohen, who previously worked in a U.S. Attorney’s office and clerked for federal judge Alison Nathan, observed that political views were rarely discussed among colleagues. Cohen explained that policy priorities naturally shift under new administrations, noting that a presidential pardon like the one discussed for Eric Adams falls under executive prerogative. However, she distinguished that path from instructions to execute specific political decisions. Cohen resigned on the same day she was placed on leave, coinciding with a Justice Department court filing that moved to dismiss charges against Adams while citing alleged misconduct by the prosecuting attorneys.
Support Infrastructure and Ongoing Legal Challenges
The cumulative loss of thousands of experienced litigators marks a shift in institutional memory and staffing levels at the nation’s primary law enforcement agency.