{"id":152925,"date":"2026-05-26T12:11:16","date_gmt":"2026-05-26T20:11:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/2026\/05\/26\/the-doj-purges-latest-target-prosecutors-who-enforced-federal-abortion-clinic-protections\/"},"modified":"2026-05-26T12:11:16","modified_gmt":"2026-05-26T20:11:16","slug":"the-doj-purges-latest-target-prosecutors-who-enforced-federal-abortion-clinic-protections","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/2026\/05\/26\/the-doj-purges-latest-target-prosecutors-who-enforced-federal-abortion-clinic-protections\/","title":{"rendered":"The DOJ Purge\u2019s Latest Target: Prosecutors Who Enforced Federal Abortion Clinic Protections"},"content":{"rendered":"

Let\u2019s take a moment to appreciate the audacity of the framing. Last month, the Department of Justice fired four career prosecutors who had worked on cases against anti-abortion activists under the Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances Act. The firings came just before the DOJ\u2019s newly created \u201cWeaponization Working Group.\u201d<\/a> established by former Attorney General Pam Bondi to scrutinize prosecutions criticized by conservatives, released a report<\/a> accusing the Biden administration of biased enforcement of the FACE Act. Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche, whose recent public statements read like a sizzle reel <\/a>designed to entice Donald Trump to make the appointment permanent, then released a statement about restoring integrity: \u201cThis Department will not tolerate a two-tiered system of justice. No Department should conduct selective prosecution based on beliefs. The weaponization that happened under the Biden Administration will not happen again, as we restore integrity to our prosecutorial system.\u201d<\/p>\n

The prosecutors fired were doing their jobs<\/a>. That is, apparently, the problem.<\/p>\n

Because the purge of career prosecutors didn\u2019t start here. In January, acting Attorney General James McHenry began firing those at the DOJ who worked on Special Counsel Jack Smith\u2019s investigations into Trump, writing in termination letters that he did not believe they \u201ccould be trusted to faithfully implement the President\u2019s agenda.\u201d The letters were explicit: \u201cYou played a significant role in prosecuting President Trump\u2026 I do not believe that the leadership of the department can trust you to assist in implementing the President\u2019s agenda faithfully.\u201d<\/a> By later in the year, there had been at least 35 firings of DOJ employees who worked for Smith<\/a>, including paralegals, finance staff, and support staff, all identified by the same Weaponization Working Group that just released the FACE Act report. All of which sent a chill through the remainder of the DOJ\u2019s career workforce<\/a>, and you have to imagine it\u2019s getting darn near icy there after the latest purge.<\/p>\n

This is the same DOJ that is begging for AUSAs on social media<\/a>, with a former chief of staff literally asking prospective prosecutors to slide into his DMs \u2014 and then discovering, helpfully, that his DMs weren\u2019t even open when he posted the request. The same DOJ that lowered its hiring standards<\/a> to eliminate any requirement that prospective federal prosecutors have actual legal experience \u2014 because, as ATL noted at the time, \u201cturns out a lot of seasoned attorneys would rather not\u201d sign up to drop corruption cases as part of political bargains and sign off on dubiously motivated prosecutions of the president\u2019s enemies. The same DOJ that deployed \u201cemergency jump teams\u201d<\/a> of rotated AUSAs to cover staffing emergencies of its own creation, plugged gaps with military lawyers<\/a> whose training under the Uniform Code of Military Justice doesn\u2019t exactly translate to federal criminal prosecution, and most recently posted a Star Wars-themed recruiting tweet<\/a> that, among other problems, used the wrong font. And threw $25,000 signing bonuses<\/a> at lawyers willing to investigate transgender youth and litigate immigration cases, because the market for people willing to do that work has apparently tightened considerably.<\/p>\n

The DOJ\u2019s staffing crisis is real and well-documented. But these firings make something else equally clear: the department isn\u2019t actually desperate for competent lawyers. It\u2019s desperate for a very specific kind of lawyer \u2014 the kind who will drop cases the president doesn\u2019t like, prosecute people the president doesn\u2019t like, and ask no inconvenient questions about whether any of it is legal or ethical. Career prosecutors who know the law, follow it regardless of who\u2019s in the White House, and have the institutional credibility to make their work stick in court are not what this administration is looking for. What it wants are toadies. And when it finds prosecutors who insist on doing their jobs \u2014 enforcing the FACE Act, prosecuting anti-abortion activists whose conduct met the legal standard, following the evidence \u2014 it fires them and calls it \u201crestoring integrity.\u201d The lawyers willing to do what the administration actually wants are out there. They\u2019re the ones sliding into Chad Mizelle\u2019s DMs.<\/p>\n

The pattern is not subtle. The DOJ under this administration fires prosecutors who investigated Trump, fires prosecutors who prosecuted January 6 rioters, fires prosecutors who enforced laws protecting abortion clinics, and then releases reports calling all of those prosecutions \u201cweaponized.\u201d Kristen Clarke, who led the Civil Rights Division under Biden, pushed back on that characterization directly, telling the Orlando Sentinel<\/a> that the attorneys \u201cenforced the law even-handedly and put public safety at the center of this work.\u201d Justice Connection, a network of former DOJ employees, was more pointed: the agency leadership\u2019s \u201ccruelty and hypocrisy are on full display in this report.\u201d<\/p>\n

The report itself claims the Biden administration \u201cignored and downplayed\u201d attacks against pregnancy resource centers and houses of worship, which are also covered by FACE Act protections, and pushed for harsher sentences against anti-abortion defendants than against abortion-rights defendants. Trump pardoned the anti-abortion activists whose convictions were prosecuted under FACE Act last year, calling them \u201cpeaceful pro-life protesters,\u201d and now the four prosecutors who secured those convictions are out of a job.<\/p>\n

What the Weaponization Working Group calls \u201cselective prosecution,\u201d the rest of us might call \u201cprosecution.\u201d What Todd Blanche calls \u201crestoring integrity,\u201d career prosecutors might call \u201cfollowing the law regardless of who the defendant is.\u201d That latter principle, that the law applies to everyone, that prosecutors uphold it without regard to the political preferences of the current administration, is the *entire point* of having career prosecutors rather than political appointees doing line prosecutorial work.<\/p>\n

None of this is accidental. The Weaponization Working Group was created not to identify genuine prosecutorial abuse but to provide retroactive political cover for purging prosecutors who did their jobs in ways the current administration doesn\u2019t like. And Todd Blanche, who has already demonstrated his willingness to bend the justice system to Donald Trump\u2019s personal whims<\/a> at every available opportunity, is standing at the podium calling it integrity.<\/p>\n

There\u2019s a stench at the DOJ linked to what the department has become, and who is willing to be part of it.<\/p>\n

\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Kathryn Rubino is a Senior Editor at Above the Law, host of\u00a0The Jabot podcast<\/a>, and co-host of\u00a0Thinking Like A Lawyer<\/a>. AtL tipsters are the best, so please connect with her. Feel free to email\u00a0her<\/a>\u00a0with any tips, questions, or comments and follow her on Twitter\u00a0@Kathryn1<\/a>\u00a0or Bluesky\u00a0@Kathryn1<\/a><\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

The post The DOJ Purge\u2019s Latest Target: Prosecutors Who Enforced Federal Abortion Clinic Protections<\/a> appeared first on Above the Law<\/a>.<\/p>\n

<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

\"\"
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t(Photo by Al Drago\/Bloomberg via Getty Images)\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Let\u2019s take a moment to appreciate the audacity of the framing. Last month, the Department of Justice fired four career prosecutors who had worked on cases against anti-abortion activists under the Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances Act. The firings came just before the DOJ\u2019s newly created \u201cWeaponization Working Group.\u201d<\/a> established by former Attorney General Pam Bondi to scrutinize prosecutions criticized by conservatives, released a report<\/a> accusing the Biden administration of biased enforcement of the FACE Act. Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche, whose recent public statements read like a sizzle reel <\/a>designed to entice Donald Trump to make the appointment permanent, then released a statement about restoring integrity: \u201cThis Department will not tolerate a two-tiered system of justice. No Department should conduct selective prosecution based on beliefs. The weaponization that happened under the Biden Administration will not happen again, as we restore integrity to our prosecutorial system.\u201d<\/p>\n

The prosecutors fired were doing their jobs<\/a>. That is, apparently, the problem.<\/p>\n

Because the purge of career prosecutors didn\u2019t start here. In January, acting Attorney General James McHenry began firing those at the DOJ who worked on Special Counsel Jack Smith\u2019s investigations into Trump, writing in termination letters that he did not believe they \u201ccould be trusted to faithfully implement the President\u2019s agenda.\u201d The letters were explicit: \u201cYou played a significant role in prosecuting President Trump\u2026 I do not believe that the leadership of the department can trust you to assist in implementing the President\u2019s agenda faithfully.\u201d<\/a> By later in the year, there had been at least 35 firings of DOJ employees who worked for Smith<\/a>, including paralegals, finance staff, and support staff, all identified by the same Weaponization Working Group that just released the FACE Act report. All of which sent a chill through the remainder of the DOJ\u2019s career workforce<\/a>, and you have to imagine it\u2019s getting darn near icy there after the latest purge.<\/p>\n

This is the same DOJ that is begging for AUSAs on social media<\/a>, with a former chief of staff literally asking prospective prosecutors to slide into his DMs \u2014 and then discovering, helpfully, that his DMs weren\u2019t even open when he posted the request. The same DOJ that lowered its hiring standards<\/a> to eliminate any requirement that prospective federal prosecutors have actual legal experience \u2014 because, as ATL noted at the time, \u201cturns out a lot of seasoned attorneys would rather not\u201d sign up to drop corruption cases as part of political bargains and sign off on dubiously motivated prosecutions of the president\u2019s enemies. The same DOJ that deployed \u201cemergency jump teams\u201d<\/a> of rotated AUSAs to cover staffing emergencies of its own creation, plugged gaps with military lawyers<\/a> whose training under the Uniform Code of Military Justice doesn\u2019t exactly translate to federal criminal prosecution, and most recently posted a Star Wars-themed recruiting tweet<\/a> that, among other problems, used the wrong font. And threw $25,000 signing bonuses<\/a> at lawyers willing to investigate transgender youth and litigate immigration cases, because the market for people willing to do that work has apparently tightened considerably.<\/p>\n

The DOJ\u2019s staffing crisis is real and well-documented. But these firings make something else equally clear: the department isn\u2019t actually desperate for competent lawyers. It\u2019s desperate for a very specific kind of lawyer \u2014 the kind who will drop cases the president doesn\u2019t like, prosecute people the president doesn\u2019t like, and ask no inconvenient questions about whether any of it is legal or ethical. Career prosecutors who know the law, follow it regardless of who\u2019s in the White House, and have the institutional credibility to make their work stick in court are not what this administration is looking for. What it wants are toadies. And when it finds prosecutors who insist on doing their jobs \u2014 enforcing the FACE Act, prosecuting anti-abortion activists whose conduct met the legal standard, following the evidence \u2014 it fires them and calls it \u201crestoring integrity.\u201d The lawyers willing to do what the administration actually wants are out there. They\u2019re the ones sliding into Chad Mizelle\u2019s DMs.<\/p>\n

The pattern is not subtle. The DOJ under this administration fires prosecutors who investigated Trump, fires prosecutors who prosecuted January 6 rioters, fires prosecutors who enforced laws protecting abortion clinics, and then releases reports calling all of those prosecutions \u201cweaponized.\u201d Kristen Clarke, who led the Civil Rights Division under Biden, pushed back on that characterization directly, telling the Orlando Sentinel<\/a> that the attorneys \u201cenforced the law even-handedly and put public safety at the center of this work.\u201d Justice Connection, a network of former DOJ employees, was more pointed: the agency leadership\u2019s \u201ccruelty and hypocrisy are on full display in this report.\u201d<\/p>\n

The report itself claims the Biden administration \u201cignored and downplayed\u201d attacks against pregnancy resource centers and houses of worship, which are also covered by FACE Act protections, and pushed for harsher sentences against anti-abortion defendants than against abortion-rights defendants. Trump pardoned the anti-abortion activists whose convictions were prosecuted under FACE Act last year, calling them \u201cpeaceful pro-life protesters,\u201d and now the four prosecutors who secured those convictions are out of a job.<\/p>\n

What the Weaponization Working Group calls \u201cselective prosecution,\u201d the rest of us might call \u201cprosecution.\u201d What Todd Blanche calls \u201crestoring integrity,\u201d career prosecutors might call \u201cfollowing the law regardless of who the defendant is.\u201d That latter principle, that the law applies to everyone, that prosecutors uphold it without regard to the political preferences of the current administration, is the *entire point* of having career prosecutors rather than political appointees doing line prosecutorial work.<\/p>\n

None of this is accidental. The Weaponization Working Group was created not to identify genuine prosecutorial abuse but to provide retroactive political cover for purging prosecutors who did their jobs in ways the current administration doesn\u2019t like. And Todd Blanche, who has already demonstrated his willingness to bend the justice system to Donald Trump\u2019s personal whims<\/a> at every available opportunity, is standing at the podium calling it integrity.<\/p>\n

There\u2019s a stench at the DOJ linked to what the department has become, and who is willing to be part of it.<\/p>\n

\n

\"\"Kathryn Rubino is a Senior Editor at Above the Law, host of\u00a0The Jabot podcast<\/a>, and co-host of\u00a0Thinking Like A Lawyer<\/a>. AtL tipsters are the best, so please connect with her. Feel free to email\u00a0her<\/a>\u00a0with any tips, questions, or comments and follow her on Twitter\u00a0@Kathryn1<\/a>\u00a0or Bluesky\u00a0@Kathryn1<\/a><\/em><\/strong><\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Let\u2019s take a moment to appreciate the audacity of the framing. Last month, the Department of Justice fired four career prosecutors who had worked on cases against anti-abortion activists under the Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances Act. The firings came just before the DOJ\u2019s newly created \u201cWeaponization Working Group.\u201d established by former Attorney General […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":152885,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[16],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-152925","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-above_the_law"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/xira.com\/p\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/IMG_5243-1-scaled-e1623338814705-620x568-KMLNdz.jpg?fit=620%2C568&ssl=1","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/152925","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=152925"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/152925\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/152885"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=152925"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=152925"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=152925"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}