The Justice Department has undergone significant personnel changes as more than 3,300 attorneys departed between President Donald Trump's first day back in office and February 2026, according to data from the Office of Personnel Management. Only about 800 attorneys have been hired during this period, with departing lawyers averaging approximately 14 years of DOJ experience and about 740 holding leadership positions.
Administration Defends Efficiency Gains
DOJ spokesperson Natalie Baldassarre defended the department's operations, stating that the DOJ has more than 10,000 lawyers committed to restoring public safety and upholding the rule of law, calling it "the most efficient Department of Justice in American history." Baldassarre highlighted achievements including the country's lowest murder rate in 125 years, arrests of more than 90 key cartel leaders, removal of millions of deadly doses of fentanyl from streets, and a record 24 successful rulings at the Supreme Court. White House spokesperson Abigail Jackson said, "President Trump will not waver when lawfully implementing the agenda he was elected on."
Restructuring and Resource Reallocation
DOJ Civil Rights Division head Harmeet Dhillon told Breitbart News in August that about 75% of the division's lawyers had left in the first seven months of the new administration, approximately 300 out of 400. The Trump administration dissolved the Tax Division in late 2025 and shifted tax lawyers to other divisions. In February, an official wrote in a court filing that more than 40% of the lawyers who handle appeals in tax cases had retired, resigned, or been temporarily transferred over the previous year.
The Civil Rights Division has redirected its focus to investigating potential racial preferences in employment and university admissions, religious liberty issues, and local limitations on gun ownership. The Trump administration dropped lawsuits brought under President Joe Biden that accused police departments in Louisville and Minneapolis of violating civil rights, and abandoned agreements governing policing practices in those departments. Zach Smith, a senior legal fellow at the conservative Heritage Foundation, said, "The changes and re-allocation of resources at the Justice Department reflect the prosecutorial priorities of this Administration, as they do in any administration. For example, the Civil Rights Division has made clear that it will prioritize enforcing the Constitution's guarantee of colorblind treatment for all Americans."
Immigration Enforcement Prioritized
The DOJ prosecuted 32,000 new immigration cases in its first six months, nearly triple the number that Biden's administration prosecuted in the same time, according to ProPublica, which analyzed DOJ and Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse data. Baldassarre said, "Assisting our partners with immigration enforcement has not deterred our ability to successfully investigate and prosecute other types of crime to keep American citizens safe." She added, "The Department of Justice is acutely focused on protecting our national security, eliminating transnational drug cartels and traffickers, prosecuting criminals, and safeguarding Americans from violent crime."
ProPublica found a drop in prosecutions of nearly every other type of crime compared with the Biden administration's first six months. Baldassarre said the drop partly reflects updated records on cases that were already closed and said the DOJ cannot vouch for the clearinghouse's data. She said, "This Department of Justice remains committed to investigating and prosecuting all types of crime, and the number of declinations is a direct result of our efforts to run the agency in a more efficient manner."
Environmental and Tax Enforcement Changes
At least 140 lawyers from the DOJ's Environment and Natural Resources Division—a third of its lawyers—left in Trump's first year back in office, according to E&E News. A December analysis from Earthjustice found that the division's environmental enforcement section imposed only $15.1 million in civil penalties during the first 11 months of Trump's return to office, compared with $1.88 billion in civil fines the previous year.
Gilbert Rothenberg, a former longtime official at the Tax Division who retired from the DOJ in 2019, said, "The rank and file saw that, and they go, 'Holy moly! Is my job at risk?'" He also said, "I've never understood an administration that doesn't want to bulk up the tax group at both IRS and DOJ to raise more money. From a public policy point of view, it's foolish."
Judicial Compliance Issues
Minnesota federal Judge Patrick J. Schiltz, a President George W. Bush appointee, wrote in a Feb. 26 court order that U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement violated 210 orders across 143 separate cases. Schiltz wrote, "Increasingly, this Court has had to resort to using the threat of civil contempt to force ICE to comply with orders. The Court is not aware of another occasion in the history of the United States in which a federal court has had to threaten contempt—again and again and again—to force the United States government to comply with court orders." Just Security identified 34 separate cases in which courts expressed concerns about noncompliance with judicial orders and 90 cases in which courts expressed distrust of government information and representations during the first year of the current administration.
California federal Judge Troy L. Nunley, a President Barack Obama appointee, sanctioned a DOJ lawyer in an immigration case for multiple failures to meet deadlines and follow orders, writing in an April 15 order, "While the Court recognizes that mistakes can occur, repeated violations of court orders cannot be excused as mere oversight," and imposing a $250 fine.
White House spokesperson Abigail Jackson responded, "The only group losing credibility are the radical, left-wing lower court judges issuing unlawful rulings to advance their own agenda." Jackson said many district court rulings against the administration were later overturned on appeal, and "President Trump's entire Administration is lawfully implementing the America First agenda he was elected to enact." She said the administration "will continue to comply with lawful court rulings and appeal those lawless opinions of radical left-wing district court judges." Baldassarre said the administration "complies with court orders and is committed to enforcing our nation's immigration laws."
Former Officials' Concerns
Stacey Young, who worked as a senior attorney in the Civil Division and later in the Civil Rights Division over 18 years, left the DOJ a few days into the new administration and has since founded Justice Connection, which supports those who have left and combats what it sees as threats to the rule of law under the Trump administration. Young said, "When political leaders come into the department and immediately begin acting like tyrants, and purging the people who know how to run things, that's going to have a really destabilizing effect, and it absolutely has."
Joseph Gerbasi, who spent decades in the Criminal Division and retired in March 2025 from his role as acting deputy chief for policy in the Narcotic and Dangerous Drug Section, said only one person is left from what was a five-lawyer policy unit. Gerbasi said, "The cartel leaders are probably laughing at us. It's just going to result in fewer prosecutions, fewer extraditions, fewer successful damaging blows to the cartels."
Former FBI senior intelligence analyst Philip Fields developed an online tool that breaks down OPM's data from January 2025-January 2026, showing the average tenure and leadership roles of departing lawyers. Fields said, "That doesn't mean that these people are all fresh out of law school. But... the assumption is that they're going to have far less experience and qualifications for these types of roles."
Some departures were firings, including dozens of prosecutors who worked on cases arising from the Jan. 6, 2021 attack on the Capitol by Trump supporters, and prosecutors who worked on investigations into Trump. Several prosecutors resigned after the Trump administration ordered them to drop a bribery case against then-New York City Mayor Eric Adams, and others resigned over the DOJ's reluctance to investigate a federal immigration agent who shot and killed Minneapolis resident Renee Good and its desire to instead investigate Good's widow.
Comparing Administrations
During the last administration, then-Attorney General Merrick Garland appointed special counsels to investigate allegations against Trump, then-President Joe Biden, and Biden's son, Hunter. Special counsels brought criminal charges against Trump and Hunter Biden, and the cases against Trump were dropped after he won the 2024 election. Baldassarre said, "Unlike the previous Administration that baselessly targeted political opponents, this Department of Justice is restoring law and order and will hold accountable any individual or group that commits a crime."
The DOJ has pursued prosecutions against former FBI Director James Comey and New York Attorney General Letitia James after the president publicly called for it, and both cases were dismissed. The department has also opened investigations into Sen. Adam Schiff, D–California, Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell, and six members of Congress who urged military service members not to obey illegal orders, without saying what those might be. The department erected a banner of Trump on the side of its main building in Washington, D.C.
Why This Matters:
The Justice Department's restructuring represents a fundamental shift in federal law enforcement priorities, with significant implications for institutional capacity and prosecutorial focus. The administration's tripling of immigration prosecutions demonstrates a clear commitment to border security and enforcement of immigration laws, aligning with the electoral mandate Trump received. However, the departure of experienced attorneys raises questions about the department's long-term capacity to handle complex cases across multiple enforcement areas, from tax collection to cartel prosecution. The tension between federal courts and DOJ attorneys over compliance with judicial orders suggests potential institutional friction that could affect the efficiency of law enforcement operations. The administration's defense of its approach as more efficient and focused on core law enforcement priorities contrasts with concerns about reduced prosecutions in areas like tax enforcement, which could affect federal revenue collection. The ability to attract qualified replacements for departed attorneys will prove critical to maintaining the department's operational effectiveness across all enforcement priorities.