Memo reveals desperation at DOJ as AG demands 'zealous' defense of Trump

At the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ), Attorney General Pam Bondi and her allies have been running into quite a few roadblocks when it comes to prosecuting President Donald Trump's foes — from prosecutors resigning from DOJ to grand juries deciding not to go forward with indictments to unfavorable ruling from judges in the lower federal courts. On MS NOW, some of the most vehement criticism of Bondi's leadership at DOJ is coming from former federal prosecutors who once worked there, including legal scholars Barbara McQuade and Joyce White Vance.

Bondi, with DOJ losing employees, is looking to hire new prosecutors. And MS NOW's Hayes Brown, in his March 19 column, argues that she is becoming increasingly desperate.

"There are a lot of empty desks in the Justice Department's offices compared to this time two years ago," Brown explains. "Attorney General Pam Bondi has been struggling to restock the much-depleted ranks of federal attorneys after last year's flood of firings, resignations and buyouts. Now, in the interest of quickly getting bodies in courtrooms, the DOJ has reportedly shifted its policies to allow U.S. attorneys' offices to hire lawyers straight out of law school."

Brown notes that according to reporting from Bloomberg Law, a DOJ memo said the department's one-year minimum experience standard can be waived in order to get more people hired. The memo said DOJ was facing an "exigent hiring need for attorneys across the Department."

"The 'exigent need' for fresh hires that the Justice Department cites is a relatively recent development," Brown observes. "Burgeoning lawyers used to leap at the chance to add a DOJ credential to their resumes. But that credential has lost some of its appeal since the start of President Donald Trump's second term. Bondi's day-one demand that federal lawyers 'zealously advance, protect, and defend their client’s interests' — with almost no room for dissent — hasn't made it easy to replace the thousands of staffers who have left the department since last January…. There's a world where this shift toward hiring newly graduated lawyers could be a good thing. If this project were truly about meritocracy, seeing more slots available for lawyers who didn't all go to the same handful of schools could be admirable. But the (Trump) Administration's screenings for ideological purity and loyalty to the MAGA agenda would undercut any claim that the department is truly trying to hire the best attorneys possible."

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