Ex-employees of US Justice Department blast 'destruction' of civil rights unit

More than 200 former employees of the U.S. Justice Department have publicly criticized what they describe as the ongoing “destruction” of its Civil Rights Division, alleging that the Trump administration has abandoned the agency’s mission to protect vulnerable Americans.

In an open letter released on the 68th anniversary of the division’s creation, the former employees accused Attorney General Pam Bondi and Assistant Attorney General Harmeet Dhillon of undermining key cases aimed at combating sexual harassment, police brutality, and voting inequities. They also claimed that leadership has altered how civil rights investigations are conducted by pressuring staff to “find facts to fit the Administration’s pre-determined outcomes.”

“Most of us planned to stay at the division following the 2024 election. But after witnessing this Administration destroy much of our work, we made the heartbreaking decision to leave,” the letter said. Published by Justice Connection, an advocacy group for DOJ employees founded by a former division attorney, the statement warned of the “near destruction of DOJ’s once-revered crown jewel.”

The Civil Rights Division was established under the 1957 Civil Rights Act, originally enacted to dismantle discriminatory Jim Crow segregation and protect the voting rights of Black Americans.

In response, a Justice Department spokesperson defended Bondi and Dhillon, saying they have restored the division to its “original mission” of protecting the rights of all Americans. The spokesperson also accused the Biden administration of targeting political opponents, without providing evidence.

“Its strong enforcement record on a wide range of priorities – including safeguarding our elections, ending burdensome consent decrees, and rooting out antisemitism and race-based admissions on college campuses – is historic,” the spokesperson said.

Former Attorneys Speak Out

Tuesday marked the first time many former division attorneys publicly spoke since leaving the department. Robyn Bitner, a former trial attorney who handled investigations protecting children’s civil rights in state and local facilities, said the group wants to educate the public and inspire action.

“We want the American people to be our first audience,” Bitner said. “They are the people whose rights we are protecting. We want the public to know what is happening.”

Under Dhillon, the division has shifted its traditional enforcement priorities to align with Trump’s executive directives, ending consent decrees designed to prevent abuses affecting minorities, including excessive police force and segregation in public schools.

“The weaponization of consent decrees ended when I took over the Civil Rights Division,” Dhillon stated in a December 6 post on X.

Since January, the division has lost roughly 75% of its attorneys, which the letter describes as part of a “coordinated effort” to drive staff out.

“The new priorities of the division are really rooted in partisan politics, and not protecting the rights of all,” said Regan Rush, former chief of the section overseeing civil rights investigations into police abuses. -Sarah N. Lynch/Reuters