A report in the Huffington Post outlines some tremors within the activist civil rights division of the Department of Justice following the election:
(Via HuffPo) […] Former DOJ official Jonathan Smith, whose work included the Civil Rights Division’s investigation into widespread unconstitutional behavior by the Ferguson Police Department, said he suspects many attorneys within the division are already preparing to depart.
“My guess is that [Wednesday], half the division spent the day fixing up their resumes,” he said. “I expect that you’re going to see, starting almost immediately, an outflow of very committed lawyers who are going to look for other ways to make a contribution and to not stick through a Trump administration.”
“I’m very concerned about what’s going to happen to the Civil Rights Division and the progress that’s been made on critical issues around criminal justice,” he added. “It’s really quite terrifying.”
Significant departures are virtually guaranteed, and it’s too early to say just how many career civil rights lawyers at DOJ will stick around for the Trump administration. Civil Rights Division chief Vanita Gupta recently told hundreds of employees that she’s planning to stay on until Trump’s inauguration on Jan. 20.
As of Tuesday afternoon, the Trump transition team had not contacted anyone at the Justice Department, and DOJ officials hadn’t been told the names of the individuals on the Trump team.
Many career attorneys are anxiously awaiting Trump’s attorney general pick, which will give them a better sense of the president-elect’s priorities and help them decide whether they could be more effective inside a Trump DOJ or fighting for civil rights from the outside. Opponents of the Civil Rights Division’s work during the Obama administration, meanwhile, are salivating over the changes a Trump administration could bring about. (read more)
