The exits keep coming at the Justice Department.
Brett Shumate, the assistant attorney general in charge of the department’s Civil Division, resigned Monday, becoming the fourth senior DOJ official to step down in the week since Republicans suffered major losses in the midterm elections.
Attorney General Todd Blanche announced the departure on X, praising Shumate’s leadership of the division.
Blanche said that under Shumate, the division aggressively challenged sanctuary policies in court and won key lawsuits against local policies that endangered federal law enforcement. Blanche said the department was grateful for Shumate’s service and wished him continued success.
The Civil Division plays a central role in defending the administration’s policies against lawsuits and filing cases on its behalf.
Under Shumate, the division sued universities that offered in-state tuition to illegal immigrants, defended President Donald Trump’s executive order restricting mail-in voting and fought state laws that sought to bar federal agents from wearing masks. It also sued states to force them to issue undercover license plates to immigration officers.
But the division has also struggled with significant staff departures as its caseload soared during the Trump administration. Attorneys left from high-profile sections including the appellate staff and the federal programs branch, two units heavily involved in defending the president’s priorities in court. Over the past year, the division has had to aggressively recruit new attorneys to fill the gaps.
Shumate’s resignation follows a wave of other high-level departures.
Harmeet Dhillon, who led the Civil Rights Division, was the first to leave after the election.
On Friday, two more officials resigned. Jason Reding Quiñones, the U.S. attorney for the Southern District of Florida, stepped down. His office had been overseeing a sweeping “grand conspiracy” investigation into federal law enforcement officials involved in past investigations of Trump. That probe was based on the theory that separate investigations into the president were part of a broader conspiracy against his rights.
John Eisenberg, the assistant attorney general for the National Security Division, also resigned Friday, Blanche announced.
All four officials were Senate-confirmed leaders, making the string of exits one of the most significant shakeups at the department during Trump’s second term.
The resignations come amid broader turmoil across the administration following the GOP’s historic midterm defeat, which handed Democrats control of both the House and the Senate.
Trump has already made major changes at the White House. On Friday, he announced that chief of staff Susie Wiles was leaving and that longtime adviser Stephen Miller would replace her. Miller officially took over the role Monday.
With Democrats set to take control of congressional committees in January, the Justice Department could soon face a flood of oversight requests and investigations, putting even more pressure on a department already working to fill key leadership posts.
