Trump is running low on personal lawyers to promote to the DOJ

This week has been particularly challenging for President Donald Trump as he attempts to shape the Justice Department into a vehicle for his personal agenda. A federal appeals court recently invalidated Alina Habbas controversial appointment as U.S. Attorney for New Jersey. This decision followed a ruling by a federal judge declaring Lindsay Halligans appointment as interim U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia unlawful. Both Habba and Halligan previously served as Trumps personal attorneys, highlighting the limited pool of lawyers willing to defend his interests in court.

With these appointments now overturned, Trump faces a shrinking roster of legal talent to fill key Justice Department positions and defend his most contentious policies. Over the past decade, Trump has relied on numerous personal lawyers to navigate the Russia investigation, two impeachments, efforts to overturn the 2020 election, four criminal indictments, and multiple major civil cases against him and his businesses. While their courtroom success has varied, this large network has historically provided candidates for presidential appointments.

At the top of this legal network are Attorney General Pamela Bondi and her deputy Todd Blanche. Bondi, a former Florida attorney general, served on Trumps first impeachment team before becoming his second choice to lead the Justice Department. Blanche has led federal criminal cases against Trump, delaying them until after the last election, and was involved in the New York trial that ended in Trumps conviction on 34 counts of falsifying business records, alongside Emil Bove, now a federal appellate judge.

Other notable figures include Harmeet Dhillon, who leads the Civil Rights Division and advised Trumps 2020 campaign, and Solicitor General John Sauer, who has successfully argued in front of the Supreme Court to keep Trump on state ballots. Despite loyalists occupying top positions, staffing the broader Justice Department has proven more difficult. Many career attorneys were fired or reassigned under Bondi, Bove, and Blanche, leaving numerous vacancies that have been hard to fill with MAGA-aligned lawyers. A politicized hiring process has stretched remaining attorneys thin, making it difficult to manage incoming cases efficiently.

The withdrawal of record numbers of nominations has further reduced the pool of Senate-confirmed officials available for acting roles. The difficulty of finding lawyers both loyal and capable of presenting highly political arguments in court is evident in Habbas and Halligans failed appointments. Habba primarily acted as a spokesperson during Trumps trials and failed to secure Senate confirmation. Halligan, who had no prior prosecutorial experience, rushed to file charges against former officials like FBI Director James Comey and New York Attorney General Letitia Jamescases that were dismissed by the same judge who invalidated her appointment.

Although future Supreme Court rulings could potentially reverse these decisions, the setbacks underscore the diminishing pool of Trump-aligned attorneys available to fill key DOJ roles. Habbas and Halligans failures serve as a rare sign of progress in an otherwise turbulent year, further narrowing the list of lawyers capable of carrying forward the Trumpist agenda within the Justice Department.

Author: Sophia Brooks