A significant number of Justice Department lawyers representing the Trump administration at the Supreme Court are preparing to resign at a time when the White House is contending with a barrage of legal challenges to its policies.
The Washington Post reported that “at least half of the front-line lawyers … are preparing to leave or have already announced their departures – an unusually high amount of turnover at a time of intense litigation involving the president’s initiatives.”
The people planning to leave the solicitor general’s office have various reasons, according to several people close to the workforce who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss upcoming personnel changes.
Many are uncomfortable or turned off by directives from Justice Department leaders, including Attorney General Pam Bondi’s demand for “zealous advocacy” of President Donald Trump’s agenda, these people said.
The planned departures, and the newly announced retirement of veteran Edwin S. Kneedler, come as the Trump administration has repeatedly asked the high court to clear the way for its efforts to dramatically reshape the federal government, expand immigration enforcement and halt federal spending.
The White House recently won a series of key victories in the courts. The Supreme Court ruled against a lower court’s ruling disallowing the administration from deporting alleged Venezuelan gang members to El Salvador under the Alien Enemies Act. However, it did not rule that Trump’s overall invocation of the 18th-century law was permissible. That court battle will likely happen in the not-too-distant future. The court also halted an order requiring the White House to rehire thousands of probationary workers it had fired earlier this year.
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BREAKING: U.S. Supreme Court ALLOWS the Trump Administration to enforce the Alien Enemies Act and rapidly deport suspected Venezuelan gang members to El Salvador
— Jacob Wheeler (@JWheelertv) April 7, 2025
The ruling is 5-4, with Chief Justice Roberts joining the conservatives. pic.twitter.com/1CiExibyr4
The Washington Post pointed out that “Some turnover in the office is not unusual when there is a change in administration … But the anticipated number of departures among the 16 assistants – at least eight, by some counts – is significantly higher than normal, according to people familiar with how the office works.”
If the report is accurate, the resignations might make it harder for the administration to counter the Democrats’ lawfare campaign. So far, there have been over 200 lawsuits filed against the White House over immigration policy, President Donald Trump’s executive orders, and the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) initiative. The Justice Department is already stretched thin because of the legal onslaught.
However, this may not be a bad thing for the Trump administration. Having attorneys on staff that are not willing or able to effectively defend his policies in court is essentially the same as not having a legal staff at all.
The White House will need to scramble to hire attorneys who can adequately represent the administration before the Supreme Court and lower courts. But at least they will have lawyers who have no hangups with arguing in favor of the president’s policies.
One of the biggest problems Trump faced in his first term was government employees working to slow down his agenda. Some actively worked against it.
Since taking office in January, many employees resigned – but a sizeable number were also fired, suggesting that President Trump has learned his lesson from his first term.
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