U.S. Department of Justice
The U.S. Department of Justice is the federal executive department responsible for enforcing federal law and administering the justice system. Led by the Attorney General, it oversees the FBI, federal prosecutors, immigration courts, and civil rights enforcement. In 2025-26 it became a central actor in immigration enforcement, investigations of political figures, and legal challenges to administration actions.
Also known as DOJ · US DOJ · USDOJ · Justice Department
2026 Events (176)
DOJ pressured Mount Sinai Health System into ending gender-affirming care for minors in fourth hospital settlement
On September 4, 2026, the U.S. Department of Justice announced an agreement with Mount Sinai Health System requiring the New York City hospital system to stop providing gender-affirming care to transgender minors. Mount Sinai agreed to pay a monetary penalty and dedicate $2 million to free medical care for patients DOJ said were harmed by the care, while denying all of DOJ's allegations. DOJ said the agreement is the fourth it has reached with a hospital system over pediatric gender-affirming care, following Texas Children's Hospital, the Cleveland Clinic Foundation, and Connecticut Children's Hospital.
DOJ issued seven FBI subpoenas for Nevada voter data amid its separate court fight for the same records
On September 3, 2026, the Nevada Secretary of State's office confirmed it had received seven U.S. Department of Justice subpoenas, issued through the FBI, seeking voter-related information over the preceding three months. The disclosure came about three weeks after a federal judge dismissed a separate DOJ lawsuit that had sought Nevada's complete, unredacted voter registration list -- the department's 22nd consecutive district-court loss in a nationwide campaign for state voter rolls -- which DOJ has since appealed to the Ninth Circuit. Nevada's office did not disclose what specific information the subpoenas sought.
U.S. Department of Justice fired career prosecutor who sought a stronger civil-rights charge against ICE officer in Minneapolis shooting
The U.S. Department of Justice fired career Assistant U.S. Attorney Matthew Evans on September 3, 2026, a day after ProPublica published an email in which he objected "in the strongest possible terms" to DOJ leadership's decision to charge ICE officer Christian Castro only with false statements, rather than a civil-rights offense, over the January 14, 2026 shooting of Venezuelan immigrant Julio Cesar Sosa-Celis in Minneapolis. Evans had told Sosa-Celis's attorneys the lesser charge was being "directed by the Main Justice and the US Attorney" despite his objections. The Justice Department disputed Evans's characterization of the investigation as concluded and said the civil-rights probe into Castro remains ongoing, while multiple news organizations separately reported that Evans is under investigation over the email's disclosure.
DOJ legal opinion expanded welfare-reporting mandate to all state agencies, tying future TANF/SSI funding to reporting immigrants to DHS
On September 2, 2026, the U.S. Department of Justice's Office of Legal Counsel issued a legal opinion, authored by Deputy Assistant Attorney General Joshua Craddock, concluding that all state agencies -- not only those administering welfare benefits -- must report individuals a state believes are unlawfully present to the Department of Homeland Security as a condition of continued Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) and Supplemental Security Income (SSI) funding. The opinion reverses a narrower 1998 OLC interpretation that limited the reporting duty to the specific agencies administering those programs; DOJ said states will not lose funding already disbursed but risk losing future TANF and SSI dollars if they do not comply.
DOJ issued grand jury subpoena to Comey associate Daniel Richman in revived leak investigation
On August 31, 2026, federal prosecutors in the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Southern District of Florida issued a grand jury subpoena to Daniel Richman, a longtime friend and legal adviser to former FBI Director James Comey, reviving a years-old investigation into whether Comey used Richman to leak sensitive memos about his conversations with President Trump to The New York Times. The subpoena is the first expansion of the investigation to reach Richman himself since Joe DiGenova, a Trump-aligned former U.S. Attorney, took over its leadership after career prosecutors resisted pursuing a broader "grand conspiracy" case against former CIA Director John Brennan.
DOJ sued Washington, Arizona, New Mexico, and Oregon to block in-state tuition and aid for undocumented students, bringing its total to 21 states
On August 27, 2026, the U.S. Department of Justice filed four separate lawsuits against Washington, Arizona, New Mexico, and Oregon, seeking to block each state's law granting in-state tuition and financial aid to undocumented students. The complaints argue the laws unlawfully grant noncitizens benefits unavailable to U.S. citizens living outside the state, in violation of federal law. DOJ said the filings bring its litigation campaign to 21 states, following earlier suits that resulted in injunctions in Texas, Kentucky, Oklahoma, Nebraska, and Illinois.
DOJ's Chicago immigration court ordered removal of six unaccompanied minors with pending SIJS applications
On August 26, 2026, an immigration judge presiding over Chicago's downtown immigration court ordered the removal of six unaccompanied immigrant children, ages 12 to 17, despite each having a pending Special Immigrant Juvenile Status (SIJS) application -- a status Congress created to protect immigrant children who were abused, abandoned, or neglected. Advocates said the court has, since June 2026, been requiring these children to appear every two weeks instead of the periodic check-ins historically used while SIJS applications are pending, and a DOJ spokesperson defended the accelerated pace as needed to reduce the immigration court's case backlog.
DOJ, Education Department threatened enforcement action against two Kansas school districts over gender-identity privacy policies
The U.S. Department of Education's Student Privacy Policy Office announced on August 25, 2026 that it would partner with the DOJ Civil Rights Division to pursue enforcement measures — including potential legal action and loss of federal funding — against Kansas's Olathe and Shawnee Mission school districts after both refused to sign voluntary resolution agreements addressing an April 2026 finding that their gender-identity privacy policies violate FERPA. Topeka Public Schools, found to have the same violation, separately entered a resolution agreement the same day requiring it to end "gender support plans" and revise its guidance; Olathe and Shawnee Mission continue to dispute that their policies violate federal law.
DOJ sued Franklin County Municipal Court to strike down its ban on warrantless ICE arrests at the courthouse
On August 25, 2026, the U.S. Department of Justice sued the Franklin County Municipal Court in Columbus, Ohio, naming Administrative and Presiding Judge Jessica D'Varga and the court's director of security, Enoch White, seeking to strike down the court's Rule 2.10 barring civil ICE arrests of people present for court proceedings or other lawful court business. The suit, filed in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Ohio, argues the March 2026 rule violates the Constitution's Supremacy Clause and asks the court to permanently enjoin its enforcement. It is the latest in a Justice Department litigation campaign against local and state measures restricting ICE courthouse and field operations.
DOJ attached immigration-enforcement conditions to FY2026 law-enforcement and juvenile-justice grants, lawsuit alleges
A coalition of 22 states and the District of Columbia sued the U.S. Department of Justice in Rhode Island federal court on August 21, 2026, alleging that DOJ had attached four new civil-immigration-enforcement conditions to fiscal year 2026 Edward Byrne Memorial Justice Assistance (Byrne JAG), juvenile-justice, and crisis-intervention grants, most of which were awarded in July 2026. The conditions require states to notify federal immigration agents of a detainee's release date on request and bar restricting the sharing of a person's immigration status with federal agents, among other terms. The states said DOJ used the same tactic on Victims of Crime Act grants in 2025 before an earlier multistate lawsuit forced it to remove those conditions.
Attorney General Blanche refused to pledge DOJ independence from White House, said Trump's views can factor into prosecutions
Attorney General Todd Blanche told NBC News's "Meet the Press" host Kristen Welker on August 16, 2026, "No, I'm not going to pledge that" the Justice Department would always act independently of the White House, saying "no attorney general should ever pledge that." Asked whether he takes President Trump's views into consideration on individual prosecution decisions, Blanche said "Yes, of course," and called the idea that the president secretly directs specific prosecutions "an extraordinarily false narrative." The comments came in Blanche's first Sunday show appearance since his Senate confirmation as attorney general the prior week.
DOJ legal opinion expanded military's arrest authority beyond southern border National Defense Areas
On August 14, 2026, the U.S. Department of Justice's Office of Legal Counsel issued a formal opinion concluding that military personnel may arrest migrants for trespassing even after they leave one of the six "National Defense Areas" the Trump administration has designated along the U.S.-Mexico border in Arizona, California, New Mexico, and Texas. Deputy Assistant Attorney General William Hyde wrote that arresting trespassers "just outside of an NDA would not violate the [Posse Comitatus Act]," citing a commander's traditional protective power over military property. The opinion, issued in Washington, D.C., extends military detention authority beyond the National Defense Areas' boundaries for the first time since the zones were created in 2025.
HSI infiltrated Minnesota unions and advocacy groups and subpoenaed financial records without judicial review during Operation Metro Surge
Court filings unsealed August 13, 2026 revealed that Homeland Security Investigations, coordinating with the Department of Justice, ran undercover surveillance operations codenamed "Operation Puppet Master" and "Operation Whipple Shield" during winter 2025-2026 as part of Operation Metro Surge, reaching far beyond the 15 activists eventually charged. Undercover agents infiltrated encrypted chats and organizing meetings, and HSI used administrative subpoenas to obtain years of financial records from labor unions and advocacy groups, none of which has been charged with a crime.
DOJ sued Connecticut to block in-state tuition and financial aid for undocumented students, one of three suits filed that day
On August 11, 2026, the U.S. Department of Justice sued Connecticut in federal court to strike down the state's in-state tuition and financial-aid programs for undocumented students, arguing they unlawfully grant noncitizens benefits unavailable to out-of-state U.S. citizens. The suit challenges Connecticut's 2011/2015 in-state tuition law, a 2018 institutional-aid law, Connecticut State Community College aid, the Roberta B. Willis need-based grant program, and the state's student-loan reimbursement program. It was filed the same day as companion suits against New York and Vermont, bringing DOJ's nationwide tally of such suits to 17.
Justice Department extended executive privilege to shield Trump's private advisers from congressional oversight
On August 10, 2026, the Justice Department's Office of Legal Counsel issued a 21-page opinion concluding that President Trump can extend executive-privilege protection to private advisers who are not federal employees, so long as their communications relate to official presidential decisionmaking and remain confidential. The opinion, issued in Washington, D.C. months ahead of the midterm elections, could shield outside Trump adviser Boris Epshteyn from being compelled to testify or produce communications in future congressional investigations or in an ongoing American Bar Association lawsuit seeking his records.
DOJ Civil Rights Division found Duke Law School discriminated based on race in admissions
The Justice Department's Civil Rights Division announced on August 7, 2026 that Duke University School of Law intentionally discriminated based on race in admitting its 2023, 2024, and 2025 incoming classes, violating Title VI and the Supreme Court's 2023 SFFA v. Harvard ruling. It is the first law school, following prior findings against UCLA, Yale, and UC Davis medical schools, that the Civil Rights Division has found in violation of SFFA.
DOJ pressured Connecticut Children's Medical Center into ending gender-affirming care for minors in third hospital settlement
On August 5, 2026, the U.S. Department of Justice announced an agreement with Connecticut Children's Medical Center requiring the hospital to stop providing gender-affirming care — puberty blockers, cross-sex hormones, and related procedures — to minors. The hospital agreed to pay a monetary penalty and dedicate an additional $500,000 to the care of patients DOJ says were harmed by the procedures, while denying all of DOJ's allegations. DOJ said the agreement follows similar settlements it reached with Texas Children's Hospital and the Cleveland Clinic Foundation.
Trump DOJ obtained court vacatur of Oath Keepers leaders' January 6 seditious conspiracy convictions
On August 4, 2026, at the U.S. Department of Justice's request, U.S. District Judge Amit Mehta granted a motion to dismiss and vacate the January 6 seditious-conspiracy convictions of eight Oath Keepers members, including founder Stewart Rhodes. In a written order, Mehta said the government offered no legal or factual justification for dismissal and that granting it was not in the public interest, but concluded he had no authority to deny the motion. The vacatur went beyond Trump's January 2025 clemency, which had commuted or pardoned the defendants' sentences but left their jury convictions on the record.
New York Times reveals DOJ subpoenaed freelance journalist over North Korea SEAL Team 6 reporting
The New York Times reported on August 1, 2026 that the Justice Department had subpoenaed freelance journalist Matthew Cole, seeking two years of his notes and grand-jury testimony to identify sources for his reporting on a failed 2019 Navy SEAL Team 6 mission in North Korea. FBI agents delivered the previously undisclosed grand-jury subpoena to Cole's New York home in February 2026; it was issued by federal prosecutors in Newport News, Virginia. The Times is paying for Cole's legal defense and called the subpoena "another brazen and illegal attack" on journalists.
DOJ fired two more Chicago immigration judges who had the bench's lowest removal-order rates
The Justice Department's Executive Office for Immigration Review fired Chicago immigration judges Eva Saltzman and Elizabeth Crites on July 30, 2026, continuing a wave of firings, resignations, and buyouts from the Chicago bench that the National Association of Immigration Judges calls a "purge." A Chicago Tribune data analysis found the two judges had the two lowest rates, among Chicago judges who concluded at least 50 cases that month, of issuing removal orders, as the court has become the national leader in deportation orders. EOIR declined to comment on personnel matters; NAIJ's executive vice president called the firings "without cause" and an attack on judicial independence.
DOJ agreed to pay pro-life activist Paul Vaughn a seven-figure settlement over Biden-era FACE Act prosecution
On July 28, 2026, the U.S. Department of Justice agreed to pay Tennessee pro-life activist Paul Vaughn a "seven-figure" settlement resolving his lawsuit over a 2022 prosecution under the Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances (FACE) Act and a predawn armed raid on his home while several of his eleven children were present. Vaughn was convicted of a misdemeanor FACE Act violation and a felony conspiracy count for a March 2021 clinic protest, received no prison time, and was pardoned by President Trump in January 2025 before suing DOJ; the settlement amount was not disclosed and DOJ did not comment. It is at least the second seven-figure DOJ settlement paid to a Trump-aligned FACE Act defendant within four months, following a similar payout to Mark Houck in April 2026.
Education Department and DOJ threatened Ann Arbor, Michigan schools with funding cutoff over transgender student privacy policy
On July 27, 2026, the U.S. Department of Education's Student Privacy Policy Office announced, in partnership with the Department of Justice, that it was taking enforcement action against Ann Arbor Public Schools over the district's policy of not disclosing a student's "transgender status" to parents without the student's consent, which it said likely violates FERPA. The department gave the district until August 10, 2026 to respond and justify its policy or face enforcement proceedings, including potential loss of federal funding.
DOJ offered $3 billion in police grants conditioned on partnering with ICE for immigration enforcement
On July 24, 2026, the U.S. Department of Justice announced approximately $3 billion in federal grants for state and local law enforcement, conditioning eligibility on agencies entering ICE 287(g) immigration enforcement partnerships and committing to support Homeland Security Task Force operations. The program makes access to one of the largest law enforcement funding opportunities in recent years contingent on local departments aligning with the Trump administration's mass deportation agenda. For agencies not currently partnered with ICE, eligibility would require both operational and policy realignment with federal immigration enforcement.
Board of Immigration Appeals ruled asylum fee non-payment fatal to claims despite documented notice failures nationwide
On July 24, 2026, the Board of Immigration Appeals issued a precedent decision, Matter of L-F-R-, holding that failure to pay the $100 annual asylum fee created by the 2025 reconciliation law is fatal to an asylum application. The ruling formalizes a dismissal mechanism already applied in cases where no payment method existed or notice of the fee was not reliably delivered, including a documented San Diego case. The Board limited the fee's reach to asylum claims alone, remanding the respondent's related withholding-of-removal and Convention Against Torture claims for separate consideration.
Documents revealed federal agencies spent nearly $1M on Trump-image lobby banners; DOJ — which enforces the Hatch Act — led the spending
On July 24, 2026, documents published by E&E News/Politico and PBS showed that the U.S. Department of Justice spent nearly $1 million on large banners displaying President Trump's face in its Robert F. Kennedy Building headquarters, while the Departments of Agriculture, Labor, and the Interior installed similar Trump-image banners at their headquarters buildings. The DOJ is the federal agency responsible for enforcing the Hatch Act, which prohibits federal agencies from using government resources for partisan political purposes.
DOJ and Department of Education threatened to sue Kansas City, Kansas school district and freeze federal funds over transgender student privacy policy
On July 21, 2026, the U.S. Departments of Justice and Education issued a joint letter to Kansas City, Kansas Public Schools (KCKPS) demanding the district revoke its internal "Transgender Guideline," which directed staff not to disclose transgender students' gender identity, preferred names, or pronouns to parents without the student's consent. The agencies threatened to file a civil lawsuit and freeze the district's federal funding if KCKPS did not comply within 14 days. The letter followed an April 2026 FERPA violation finding and the district's refusal to voluntarily resolve the matter with the Department of Education.
DOJ opened civil rights investigation into Harvard's China-linked financial aid programs, alleging discrimination against American students
On July 20, 2026, the Department of Justice Civil Rights Division opened a Title VI compliance review to determine whether Harvard University's acceptance of approximately $630 million from China-based sources had produced financial aid programs that unlawfully exclude American students by preferentially directing funds to foreign nationals. Assistant Attorney General Harmeet Dhillon announced the probe, stating that schools cannot accept foreign money to fund aid that "deliberately excludes American citizens." Harvard denied unlawfully discriminating in financial aid allocation and said it would engage with the government.
FBI told agents to stop investigating ICE confrontations while officials publicly denied any policy change
In guidance circulated in mid-July 2026, federal agents were told the FBI would no longer investigate physical confrontations involving ICE officers, shifting review of such incidents to ICE's own Homeland Security Investigations unit. The Justice Department and Department of Homeland Security publicly denied any policy change despite the guidance having already been distributed to agents nationwide.
DOJ sued Maryland to block in-state tuition benefit for undocumented students, its 13th such suit against a state
On July 16, 2026, the U.S. Department of Justice sued Maryland in federal court to block the state's law granting in-state college tuition and financial aid to undocumented immigrant residents, arguing it unconstitutionally discriminates against U.S. citizens who are not offered the same reduced rates. The suit seeks a permanent injunction barring Maryland from administering the tuition benefit or related scholarship programs. Maryland is the 13th state DOJ has sued over similar in-state-tuition policies for undocumented residents.
Justice Department activated the 30-year-dormant Alien Terrorist Removal Court for the first time
On July 15, 2026, the Justice Department filed the first application in the 30-year history of the Alien Terrorist Removal Court, a specialized tribunal Congress created in 1996 as part of the Antiterrorism and Effective Death Penalty Act but which had never previously been used. The identity of the respondent and the nature of the allegations remain sealed; the presiding judge questioned the government's legal theory and requested further briefing. Legal experts noted the ATRC structure significantly curtails due process relative to standard immigration removal proceedings by permitting the government to keep its classified evidence secret from the respondent.
U.S. 5th Circuit ended 1965 Concordia Parish school desegregation order, backing DOJ campaign to lift decrees
On July 14, 2026, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit, sitting in New Orleans, upheld the lifting of a 1965 federal desegregation consent decree governing Louisiana's Concordia Parish schools. The ruling backed a Justice Department campaign, carried out with Louisiana Attorney General Liz Murrill through "joint stipulated dismissals" that require no proof segregation has ended, to terminate Civil Rights-era school desegregation orders. The decree, in place for more than 60 years, ended without an evidentiary finding that segregation had been eradicated.
American Oversight records showed Deputy AG Blanche personally directed the DOJ's 'Weaponization Working Group'
On July 14, 2026, the watchdog group American Oversight published records — first reported by the New York Times — showing that Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche personally oversaw the Justice Department's "Weaponization Working Group," convening recurring meetings in his conference room and assigning senior officials from the Office of the Deputy Attorney General to politically charged investigations. Calendar entries and emails tied those assignments to inquiries involving former Special Counsel Jack Smith, Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg, January 6 prosecutions, and the 2020 election. The disclosure was released on the eve of Blanche's Senate confirmation hearing to become Attorney General.
Defense Secretary Hegseth announced a joint Defense-Justice Department task force to investigate and prosecute leaks to news media
On July 13, 2026, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth announced the creation of a joint Department of Defense and Department of Justice task force to identify and prosecute unauthorized disclosures of sensitive information to news media. Hegseth delegated authority to the Defense Department's Office of General Counsel to request and receive all departmental records concerning media-leak investigations, and warned that those who leak would be met with "the full force of the law." Press-freedom advocates, including a New York Times attorney, condemned the effort as a threat to constitutionally protected newsgathering.
FBI fired two analysts who objected to DOJ's 2020 Fulton County election probe as thin on evidence
The FBI fired two intelligence analysts after they raised concerns that the Justice Department's investigation into the 2020 election in Fulton County, Georgia, was thin on evidence and politically motivated, and refused to join the probe, according to sources cited by CBS News on July 13, 2026. The analysts were among roughly 260 ordered to review seized ballots, voting-machine records, and voter rolls in the inquiry directed by FBI Director Kash Patel. The FBI said its employees are expected to uphold the bureau's mission and standards.
Justice Department subpoenaed four New York Times reporters over their Air Force One security reporting
In July 2026, the Justice Department subpoenaed four New York Times reporters — Julian Barnes, Eric Lipton, Tyler Pager, and Eric Schmitt — over their reporting on security concerns about the Qatari-donated aircraft being prepared as Air Force One. After federal judges froze phone-record enforcement and challenged the DOJ's legal reasoning at a July 24, 2026, court hearing, the government withdrew all grand-jury and phone-record subpoenas. Judge Arun Subramanian called the legal work "slipshod" and threatened sanctions; the Times called the full withdrawal "an important affirmation of our country's commitment to a free press."
DOJ declared Milwaukee's masked-federal-agent ordinance illegal and demanded the city stop enforcing it
In a July 10, 2026 letter to Milwaukee's mayor, common council president, and city attorney, the U.S. Justice Department declared the city's ordinance barring law-enforcement officers from concealing their faces to be unconstitutional and demanded assurances that no city entity would enforce it against federal agents. The letter gave Milwaukee until July 17 to repeal or stop enforcing the measure and asserted that federal officers, including ICE, would not comply. It extended a pattern of federal resistance to state and local requirements that immigration agents identify themselves, following DOJ lawsuits against Philadelphia and New York.
Trump DOJ obtained court vacatur of Proud Boys leaders' January 6 seditious conspiracy convictions
On July 10, 2026, at the U.S. Department of Justice's request, U.S. District Judge Timothy Kelly granted a motion to dismiss and vacate the convictions of four Proud Boys members tied to the January 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol, including the seditious-conspiracy convictions of leaders Ethan Nordean, Joseph Biggs, and Zachary Rehl. In a written memorandum Kelly said the government's request was not based on the facts or the law but concluded he was bound to grant it. The vacatur formally erased jury verdicts that the January 2025 presidential clemency had left intact.
Justice Department sued Maryland to strike down the Community Trust Act limiting state cooperation with federal immigration enforcement
On July 9, 2026, the U.S. Department of Justice filed a federal lawsuit in U.S. District Court in Baltimore seeking to strike down Maryland's Community Trust Act, a 2026 law that limits state and local cooperation with federal immigration enforcement by barring the honoring of ICE detainers and jail transfers to ICE custody. The suit alleges Maryland is engaged in an "active and deliberate effort" to obstruct immigration enforcement in violation of the Constitution's Supremacy Clause. It is one in a series of DOJ suits pressuring states to abandon laws that constrain federal immigration operations.
MS NOW investigation reveals DOJ appointees overruling career antitrust lawyers to clear corporate mergers
MS NOW reported on July 9, 2026 that Trump administration political appointees at the Justice Department's Antitrust Division have been overruling career staff attorneys who proposed lawsuits or deeper merger reviews, moving instead to clear pending deals without standard scrutiny. Two sources named Associate Attorney General Stanley Woodward as the primary driver of the non-enforcement push, reporting corroborated the following day by Bloomberg's separate account of DOJ leadership stalling a challenge to an aerospace-industry merger.
The Justice Department threatened state election officials in more than a dozen states with criminal prosecution over noncitizens on voter rolls
In letters sent to more than a dozen states — including Arizona, Minnesota, Michigan, Georgia, Kentucky, and Tennessee — and obtained by news organizations, the Justice Department's Civil Rights Division warned that state and local election officials who knowingly keep noncitizens on voter rolls or help them cast ballots could face federal criminal prosecution, regardless of intent. Division chief Harmeet Dhillon wrote that any "intentional act that is aimed at diluting the votes of citizens" could be treated as a federal crime. The threats accompanied a broader Department push to prioritize roughly 90 open investigations into potential noncitizen voting and relied in part on the Department of Homeland Security's SAVE database, which a federal judge ruled unlawful on June 22, 2026 for inaccurately flagging citizens as ineligible.
U.S. Department of Justice moved to deploy federal election monitors to Democratic strongholds in Michigan, California, and New Jersey
On July 7, 2026, the U.S. Department of Justice confirmed it would send federal election monitors to polling places in Detroit, Lansing, and East Lansing -- three Democratic strongholds -- for Michigan's August 4 primary, and to counties in California and New Jersey for the November 4 elections. The deployments, requested by Republican officials and premised on unsupported claims about the 2024 election, followed late-June letters from the DOJ Voting Section citing alleged irregularities. Michigan officials condemned the move as election interference based on baseless allegations.
The New York Times reported federal civil-rights agencies abandoned active discrimination cases at Trump's direction
The New York Times reported that federal civil-rights enforcement agencies, including the Justice Department's Civil Rights Division and the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, have dropped or abandoned active discrimination cases brought on behalf of historically marginalized groups at President Trump's direction. Former officials described a systematic dismissal of pending matters and a redirection of enforcement resources away from traditional anti-discrimination mandates toward challenging diversity programs. The reported pattern spans multiple agencies acting under executive direction.
Texas Tribune reveals Trump administration asked Texas criminal-defense commission to take over immigrant children's deportation cases
In mid-June 2026, top officials working with the Trump administration — including James McHenry, the Justice Department's chief administrative hearing officer — asked the Texas Indigent Defense Commission, a state body the Legislature created solely for criminal defense, to take over legal representation of unaccompanied immigrant children in their deportation proceedings. The outreach, which the commission's director said fell outside its legal mandate, came as the administration moved to end the federally mandated legal-services contract held by the Acacia Center for Justice (set to expire July 31 with no required transition notice), stopped paying subcontractors, and sent federal agents to the offices of children's legal-aid nonprofits. Advocates and a Justice Department spokesperson confirmed the request; critics said it was designed to concentrate unaccompanied children in a border state with higher asylum-denial rates to speed their removal.
Justice Department refused a federal judge's order to justify Epstein-file redactions, moving to delay or dissolve it
On July 2, 2026, hours before a court-ordered deadline, the U.S. Justice Department declined to produce unredacted Epstein investigative files and asked U.S. District Judge Emmet Sullivan to delay his order two months or dissolve it, arguing it had not violated the Epstein Files Transparency Act. Sullivan had sided with journalist Katie Phang, ordering the Department to justify certain redactions, produce records supporting them, and publish the redaction log the law requires. The Department said it "strongly disagrees" with the order and would appeal.
DOJ indicted former Olympian David Hearn on felony charge for touching Reflecting Pool liner, serving Trump's vandalism narrative
On July 2, 2026, a federal grand jury indicted former U.S. Olympic canoeist David Hearn, 67, on a felony destruction of government property charge after he was arrested on June 19 for reaching into the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool to feel a partially detached piece of the blue liner installed during Trump's $14.7 million renovation. U.S. Attorney for the District of Columbia Jeanine Pirro announced the felony charge at a press conference, claiming Hearn had "forcefully and violently" pulled up the liner, a characterization Hearn and his lawyers disputed. The felony charge carries a maximum sentence of ten years in prison; Hearn's attorneys called it "outrageous" and "a misuse of government power" designed to provide political cover for the administration's renovation failure.
U.S. Attorney Boutros publicly detailed a sealed Tren de Aragua complaint in violation of a court sealing order
On July 1, 2026, at a Washington press conference alongside acting Attorney General Todd Blanche and FBI Director Kash Patel, U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of Illinois Andrew Boutros publicly detailed a criminal complaint charging three alleged Tren de Aragua gang members while the complaint was still under a magistrate judge's sealing order. The seal had been signed on June 30 and was not lifted until the following day. A federal magistrate judge later found the disclosure a "clear violation" of her order.
Trump DOJ refused to renew federal grant for Minnesota's Conviction Review Unit, forcing its closure
The Trump administration's Department of Justice declined to renew a federal grant sustaining Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison's Conviction Review Unit, forcing the unit's suspension on July 1, 2026. The grant—originally $300,000 in 2020 and renewed at $500,000 in 2023—was denied by the Trump DOJ when the unit applied for another renewal in 2025. Over its five-year operation, the CRU overturned three wrongful convictions and reviewed more than 1,000 applications from people claiming wrongful conviction.
DOJ sued Virginia and California seeking to overturn state assault-weapons and pistol restrictions
On July 1, 2026, the U.S. Department of Justice filed lawsuits against Virginia and California, alleging that firearm restrictions newly enacted in both states violate the Second Amendment. The Virginia suit challenges Senate Bill 749's ban on AR-15-style rifles and magazines over 15 rounds and asks the court to overturn contrary Fourth Circuit precedent, while the California suit targets Assembly Bill 1127's convertible-pistol ban and the state's handgun Roster.
DOJ sued Massachusetts and Rhode Island to block in-state tuition and aid for undocumented students
On June 29, 2026, the U.S. Department of Justice sued Massachusetts and Rhode Island in federal court, seeking to block each state's in-state tuition and financial-aid programs for undocumented students, arguing the laws unlawfully grant noncitizens benefits unavailable to U.S. citizens living outside the state. The suits challenge Massachusetts' 2023 Tuition Equity Law and Rhode Island's in-state tuition policy, in place since 2011 and codified in 2021. DOJ said the filings brought its litigation campaign's total to 12 states, following earlier suits that resulted in permanent injunctions in Texas, Kentucky, Oklahoma, and Nebraska.
DOJ opened an investigation into Sen. Ruben Gallego's campaign spending days after the Senate Ethics Committee cleared him
Around June 29, 2026, the U.S. Department of Justice opened an investigation into Sen. Ruben Gallego's (D-AZ) use of campaign funds since 2019, examining family trips and leadership-PAC reimbursements. The probe, reportedly stemming from a whistleblower complaint, became public days after the Senate Ethics Committee closed its own inquiry and found no evidence Gallego violated Senate rules or applicable law. Gallego, a potential 2028 presidential contender, denies wrongdoing and has not been charged.
John Yoo confirmed he would advise the diGenova DOJ probe targeting former officials from the Trump–Russia investigation
On June 29, 2026, John Yoo — a UC Berkeley law professor and former Bush administration Justice Department official who authored the so-called torture memos authorizing enhanced interrogation — confirmed he would advise the probe led by Joseph diGenova, who was assigned in April 2026 as Counselor to the Attorney General to investigate whether officials who scrutinized Trump participated in a criminal conspiracy. DiGenova's investigation, conducted from the Southern District of Florida, focuses on former DOJ and FBI officials who led the inquiry into Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election.
Trump bought $500,000 in Abbott Laboratories stock before his DOJ dropped its criminal probe of the baby-formula maker
During 2025, President Donald Trump purchased roughly $500,000 in Abbott Laboratories stock, beginning in late September, while the Justice Department's years-long criminal investigation into the company's contaminated Sturgis, Michigan infant-formula plant remained open. On June 28, 2026, the Wall Street Journal and Reuters reported that DOJ leadership had closed the criminal probe, which was tied to at least two infant deaths, in favor of civil clawbacks; Abbott had donated $500,000 to Trump's inauguration. Trump's stock purchases were disclosed in his annual financial disclosure released days later.
DOJ used DEI investigation as leverage to force University of Virginia President Jim Ryan to resign
On June 27, 2026, University of Virginia President Jim Ryan announced his resignation, effective no later than August 15, under direct pressure from the Department of Justice. The DOJ's Civil Rights Division, led by Assistant Attorney General Harmeet Dhillon, had sent Ryan letters in April and June accusing him of failing to dismantle UVA's DEI programs and warning that "the department's patience is wearing thin." PBS NewsHour and NBC News reported that DOJ officials demanded Ryan's resignation as the condition for resolving the investigation, marking the first documented case of the federal government forcing a public university president from office through an active federal probe.
Justice Department sued Kentucky, Pennsylvania, Michigan, and Minnesota to compel five years of SNAP applicant data
On June 26, 2026, the Justice Department filed lawsuits against Kentucky, Pennsylvania, Michigan, and Minnesota seeking injunctions to force their state SNAP agencies to turn over five years of applicant data, after the four states refused the U.S. Department of Agriculture's demand citing recipient privacy. Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche and USDA Secretary Brooke Rollins said the states were obstructing efforts to detect benefit fraud, noting that twenty-eight other jurisdictions had complied. A federal court had already issued a preliminary injunction barring USDA from cutting SNAP funding from states over the same data refusal.
DOJ sued New York to block state law requiring ICE agents to unmask and display identification
On June 23, 2026, the U.S. Department of Justice filed suit against New York State, Governor Kathy Hochul, and Attorney General Letitia James, seeking to block a New York law requiring federal law enforcement officers, including ICE agents, to unmask during operations and display individual identifying information. The law, scheduled to take effect June 26, also bars 287(g) cooperative agreements in jurisdictions that maintain mask bans. DOJ argues the law violates the Supremacy Clause and poses officer safety risks; Hochul and James filed a countersuit the same day seeking to preserve the law.
DOJ issued grand jury subpoenas compelling Washington Post and Wall Street Journal reporters to testify about sources
On June 23, 2026, the Justice Department issued grand jury subpoenas ordering reporters at The Washington Post and The Wall Street Journal to testify about their confidential sources, then withdrew the subpoenas after they became public. The Associated Press confirmed the issuance and withdrawal via sources familiar with the matter. The subpoenas targeted newsgathering activity, not disclosures of classified information, making them a direct threat to press-source confidentiality at two of the country's largest newspapers.
Federal prosecutors secured 30–100 year sentences for eight Prairieland Nine protesters on domestic terrorism charges
On June 23, 2026, federal judges Mark Pittman and Reed O'Connor sentenced eight defendants in the Prairieland Nine case to prison terms ranging from 30 to 100 years in Fort Worth, Texas, for a combined total of 450 years. The sentences followed a March 13, 2026 jury conviction on charges including providing material support for terrorism under the NSPM-7 domestic terrorism framework, stemming from a July 4, 2025 protest outside the Prairieland ICE detention facility in Alvarado, Texas. Benjamin Song, who fired a handgun that wounded an Alvarado police officer, received the longest sentence of 100 years; the remaining seven defendants received 30–70 years for conduct prosecutors characterized as terrorism, including wearing black clothing, using encrypted messaging, and distributing antifascist literature. On July 1 and July 6, 2026, the same judges sentenced eight additional co-defendants in the same prosecution — including a ninth trial defendant and seven who pleaded guilty — bringing the cumulative total across all Prairieland-related defendants to approximately 562 years.
New York Times reported Trump DOJ appointees killed criminal probe into alleged payments for Gentile commutation
On June 21, 2026, the New York Times reported that Trump administration DOJ appointees shut down a criminal probe examining whether improper payments secured David Gentile's November 2025 commutation. Gentile, convicted of operating a $1.6 billion Ponzi scheme, was freed within two weeks of beginning a seven-year sentence. The probe ended abruptly after the Times began asking the White House and federal prosecutors about the investigation.
DOJ refused judge's order to confirm termination of $1.8B 'anti-weaponization fund'
On June 19, 2026, the U.S. Department of Justice refused to comply with Federal Judge Leonie Brinkema's order to submit a sworn declaration that the $1.8 billion "anti-weaponization fund" created to settle Trump's personal lawsuit against the IRS is permanently terminated. Judge Brinkema had issued a preliminary injunction on June 12 blocking the fund; she then required DOJ to formally confirm its termination in writing, but the department called the requirement "unnecessary" and raised "separation of powers concerns"—effectively rejecting judicial authority. The judge converted the preliminary injunction into an indefinite block on June 20.
Mother Jones report reveals Trump DOJ building case for forced psychiatric institutionalization, undermining Olmstead
On June 19, 2026, Mother Jones reported that the Trump administration's Department of Justice had issued a memo outlining legal arguments to justify forcing people with psychiatric disabilities into institutions, effectively reinterpreting the Olmstead mandate that guarantees community integration. Law professors characterized the memo as inconsistent with established precedent, and reports indicate the White House directed DOJ to produce the document as prelude to an executive order rolling back Olmstead enforcement.
DOJ fired Aurora, Colorado immigration judge Brea Burgie without cause after she resisted bail-hearing rollback
The Justice Department's Executive Office for Immigration Review fired Aurora, Colorado immigration judge Brea Burgie on June 18, 2026, five months after she publicly stated in her courtroom that she would keep following a California court's bond-hearing ruling despite being told judges weren't bound by it. Burgie had granted bond in December 2025 to Denver activist Jeanette Vizguerra, prompting a DHS spokesperson to call her an "activist judge"; her cases were reassigned and she was disciplined within weeks. She is the second Colorado immigration judge fired during Trump's second term and one of roughly 120 immigration judges fired nationwide over the past 18 months, per the National Association of Immigration Judges.
DOJ sues Philadelphia to block federal officer identification and local oversight requirements
The U.S. Department of Justice filed a 28-page lawsuit on June 18, 2026, against Philadelphia, challenging City Bill No. 260060, which requires federal law enforcement officers to display visible identification, use marked vehicles, and comply with local regulations during operations in the city. If successful, the suit would nullify a civil-rights protection that Philadelphia enacted to ensure accountability in immigration enforcement — reducing residents' ability to identify and report federal agents operating in their communities. DOJ argues that municipalities lack authority to regulate federal officers and claims the law threatens officer safety.
FBI expands Ohio Organizing Collaborative probe to affiliated national elections network
Federal agents have expanded the FBI's criminal investigation of the Ohio Organizing Collaborative (OOC), a pro-democracy voter registration nonprofit raided on June 11, 2026, to include an affiliated national elections advocacy network. The expansion suggests a broader targeting of voter registration efforts ahead of the 2026 midterms, with evidence suggesting pre-election surveillance more than a year prior.
DOJ sues to halt Evanston reparations program, citing Equal Protection Clause
The U.S. Department of Justice filed a legal challenge to halt Evanston, Illinois's reparations program, the first such program in the United States, arguing it violates the Equal Protection Clause and constitutes racial discrimination. The program provides $25,000 housing grants to Black residents who meet eligibility criteria based on residency and documented exposure to housing discrimination, with more than $20 million allocated over 10 years.
DOJ sues to halt Evanston reparations program, calling it 'racially discriminatory' under Equal Protection Clause
The U.S. Department of Justice filed a legal challenge on June 16, 2026, seeking to halt Evanston, Illinois's municipally-funded reparations program — the first such program in the United States — calling it "racially discriminatory" in violation of the Equal Protection Clause. The program offers eligible Black residents $25,000 in housing grants to address documented housing discrimination and historical segregation. The DOJ intervention inverts the traditional role of the Civil Rights Division, which has historically used equal protection law to enforce civil rights rather than block local remedies for documented harm.
Education Dept. transfers Office for Civil Rights to DOJ and special education office to HHS
The U.S. Department of Education announced interagency agreements on June 16, 2026, transferring its Office for Civil Rights (OCR) to the Justice Department's Civil Rights Division under Harmeet Dhillon, and its special education oversight office (OSERS) to the Department of Health and Human Services. OCR handles discrimination complaints in K-12 and higher education; OSERS oversees implementation of the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act guaranteeing services for disabled students. Legal experts called the OCR move "illegal," saying DOJ lawyers lack specialized education-law expertise and the transfer will make it harder for students to secure relief from discrimination.
DOJ intervened to halt Evanston's reparations program, calling the nation's first such program unconstitutional
On June 16, 2026, the U.S. Department of Justice Civil Rights Division, led by Assistant Attorney General Harmeet Dhillon, moved to intervene in a federal lawsuit seeking to halt Evanston, Illinois's reparations program — the first such program in the United States. The DOJ argued the program, which awards $25,000 housing grants to eligible Black residents to address documented historical housing discrimination, violates the Equal Protection Clause and the Fair Housing Act. The intervention joined an existing suit filed in 2024 by non-Black descendants of Evanston residents excluded from the program.
U.S. Attorney charges 15 Minnesota anti-ICE protesters as 'antifa,' invoking Trump's domestic-terrorist executive order
On June 16, 2026, U.S. Attorney Daniel Rosen and HSI Special Agent in Charge Michael McCarthy announced federal conspiracy charges against 15 members of Direct Action Minnesota (DAMN), framing them as "antifa" and explicitly tying the case to President Trump's September 2025 executive order designating antifa a domestic-terrorist organization. The lead charge — conspiracy to impede or injure a federal officer — rested substantially on protest-organizing conduct including Signal communications, training sessions, and surveillance of federal vehicles. The announcement came days after DOJ dropped more than a third of its earlier Metro Surge assault cases for prosecutorial misconduct, with one judge barring re-prosecution to prevent "prosecutorial harassment."
Justice Department moved to dismiss NAACP's Clean Air Act suit against Musk's xAI, citing national security
The U.S. Department of Justice filed a motion in federal court to intervene and dismiss the NAACP's Clean Air Act citizen lawsuit against Elon Musk's xAI Corp., marking the first time the United States has moved to dismiss a citizen enforcement suit against a private defendant under the law. The DOJ's Environment and Natural Resources Division argued that xAI's unpermitted gas turbines in Southaven, Mississippi—powering its Colossus 2 data center near majority-Black neighborhoods—are critical to military AI operations and national security. Environmental law experts and the NAACP's legal team called the intervention unprecedented and warned it would eliminate communities' ability to seek environmental accountability through citizen suits.
EOIR held first 'mega master' immigration hearing in San Diego, ordered 50 deported in absentia
The Executive Office for Immigration Review's San Diego Immigration Court held its first "mega master" hearing on June 12, 2026, compressing more than 100 previously-scheduled cases onto a single judge's docket as part of a scheduling practice EOIR has expanded to immigration courts nationwide since attorneys began reporting it in mid-May 2026. Immigration Judge Catherine Halliday-Roberts ordered 50 people deported in absentia in a group hearing that took about eight minutes, in a courtroom with a posted capacity of 36 people; those present included a woman who spoke neither English nor Spanish and did not understand the proceedings.
DOJ Civil Rights Division found UC Davis Medical School discriminated based on race in admissions
The Justice Department's Civil Rights Division announced on June 11, 2026 that the University of California, Davis School of Medicine discriminates based on race in its admissions process, in violation of the Supreme Court's 2023 SFFA v. Harvard ruling. DOJ said a six-month investigation found Davis Med used a "Davis Scale" ranking applicants on socioeconomic factors as a proxy for race after SFFA. UC Davis disputed the finding, calling its admissions process "rigorous, individualized, and merit-based."
FBI raids Ohio Organizing Collaborative, a voter-registration group
On June 11, 2026, FBI agents raided the Cleveland offices of the Ohio Organizing Collaborative, a nonprofit that runs statewide voter-registration programs, and fanned out across Columbus, Dayton, and Cincinnati to question current and former staff, serve subpoenas, and seize electronic devices. A board member estimated that more than 100 agents were involved and said investigators alleged voter fraud while presenting no evidence of wrongdoing. The raids came roughly five months before the 2026 midterm elections and drew condemnation from Ohio Democrats and democracy advocates as an attempt to intimidate voter-registration work.
DOJ charged eight U-Michigan divestment activists with 20-year federal felonies a year after state charges against the movement were dropped
On June 10, 2026, federal prosecutors in the Eastern District of Michigan unsealed a 63-page indictment charging eight pro-Palestinian activists tied to the University of Michigan divestment movement with conspiracy to transmit a threat, conspiracy to tamper with a witness, and destruction of property to prevent seizure — felonies carrying five to twenty years. The charges, announced alongside FBI raids in Ypsilanti, describe a 2024–2025 intimidation campaign: vandalism and graffiti at the homes of the U-M provost and regents, the placement of fake bloody corpses on a board member's lawn, and the defacing of the Jewish Federation of Detroit. The case followed the collapse of an earlier, separate state prosecution: charges Attorney General Dana Nessel brought against U-M encampment protesters in 2024 were all dropped by May 2025. Civil-rights groups say the federal charges treat political advocacy as terrorism and blur protected speech with criminal conduct.
DOJ dismantles federal election-integrity safeguards ahead of 2026 midterms
Reporting published June 8, 2026 details that the Justice Department has not taken its customary steps to protect the 2026 election: it fired most lawyers in its Public Integrity Section, left the Election Crimes Branch director post unfilled, canceled election-integrity training for prosecutors and FBI agents, deleted a 281-page guide to prosecuting election offenses, and has not stood up the usual Election Day "command center" to monitor voter intimidation and disinformation. Enforcement now falls to the 93 local U.S. attorney offices, which former prosecutors warn lack the specialized expertise the dismantled units provided.
DOJ filed civil actions to strip U.S. citizenship from 17 naturalized Americans in multiple federal courts
On June 8, 2026, the U.S. Department of Justice announced it had filed civil denaturalization complaints against 17 naturalized citizens in federal district courts around the country, alleging offenses including sexual abuse of a minor, fraud, and drug distribution, or concealment of criminal history during naturalization. DOJ officials described it as the largest denaturalization effort in decades; fewer than 150 people were denaturalized between 1968 and 2013. Named defendants include Maria Lourdes Montoya of Commerce City, Colorado, whom the government alleges misrepresented her spouse's identity to obtain residency and citizenship.
DOJ told D.C. Circuit no court has authority to block Trump's $400m White House ballroom
At a D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals hearing on June 5, 2026, a Justice Department lawyer argued that no court — not the panel, not the Supreme Court — has the authority to halt or order the demolition of President Trump's $400m White House ballroom, contending that only Congress could intervene. Pressed by Judge Patricia Millett on whether any court could stop the construction, the government answered no, even when asked whether courts could stop the executive from bulldozing the Statue of Liberty. The administration is appealing District Judge Richard Leon's earlier ruling that Trump lacked legal authority for the project.
DOJ sends a federal prosecutor to observe the Los Angeles ballot count amid Trump's baseless fraud claims
On June 5, 2026, the U.S. Attorney's office in Los Angeles, led by Trump appointee Bill Essayli, said it had opened "multiple election fraud investigations" into California's elections and dispatched an assistant U.S. attorney to Los Angeles County's vote-counting center. The move followed days of evidence-free claims by President Trump that Democrats were "rigging" the slow primary count for governor, Los Angeles mayor, and Congress, and inserted federal pressure into a routine state-run tabulation that local officials said was proceeding normally.
DOJ launched $300M Model Cities Initiative conditioning police grants on immigration enforcement cooperation and surveillance
On June 3, 2026, the Justice Department announced the Model Cities Initiative, directing nearly $300 million in federal grants to two to four cities to implement a "whole-of-city" policing strategy modeled on the Memphis federal surge. Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche stated the program would "leverage every authority" to extend the administration's enforcement model, conditioning grants on cities' cooperation with federal immigration enforcement operations and purchase of a prescribed surveillance technology package including AI systems, license plate readers, and drone systems. Applications from cities with populations over 100,000 are due September 1, 2026.
DOJ Civil Rights Division opened Title VI investigation into DEI programs at Arizona State University
The Justice Department's Civil Rights Division on June 3, 2026 opened a Title VI investigation into diversity, equity, and inclusion practices at Arizona State University, citing undercover videos from a conservative advocacy group as the basis for the probe. Assistant Attorney General Harmeet Dhillon said the department is examining whether ASU's DEI policies in admissions, scholarships, and educational support constitute unlawful discrimination.
Federal "summer surge" to nearly double DC National Guard to ~5,000 for America 250
Federal officials announced a "summer surge" of the DC Safe and Beautiful Task Force, requesting roughly 1,500 additional National Guard members to raise the federalized troop presence in Washington, D.C. to about 5,000 (up from ~2,800) ahead of the America 250 / July 4, 2026 celebrations. The plan keeps Guard members on Title 32 orders under the D.C. National Guard and folds militarized enforcement tools — high- visibility patrols, drones, tactical K-9 units, and helicopters — into routine policing of the capital, with no announced end date.
Bloomberg investigation revealed DOJ subpoenaed X for an anonymous ICE critic's identity, address, and banking data
On May 28, 2026, Bloomberg reported that the U.S. Department of Justice, under U.S. Attorney for the District of Columbia Jeanine Pirro, had issued a federal grand jury subpoena to X seeking the name, address, and banking information of an anonymous user, represented by attorney Joshua Koltun, over a sarcastic post referencing the ICE officer who shot Minneapolis protester Renee Good. The subpoena followed DOJ's withdrawal of an earlier administrative summons for the same information after Koltun challenged it, and neither DOJ nor the user have been told what crime is under investigation. The user has moved to quash the subpoena in federal court, in a case pending before Chief U.S. District Judge James Boasberg.
Trump administration ordered DOJ prosecutors to stand down on criminal investigation into Venezuela's Delcy Rodriguez
In late May 2026, the Trump administration quietly directed federal prosecutors in Miami to pause a longstanding DEA-flagged criminal investigation into Venezuela's acting president Delcy Rodriguez, who has been a DEA "priority target" since 2018 over alleged drug trafficking, money laundering and gold smuggling. The Associated Press reported the directive was intended to avoid disrupting the administration's post-Maduro Venezuela stabilization strategy; a similar slowdown was applied to a parallel investigation into Colombian President Gustavo Petro. The Justice Department denied that any investigation existed to "shut down."
DOJ opens criminal perjury investigation into Trump accuser E. Jean Carroll
In late May 2026, CNN, CBS and NBC reported that the Justice Department had opened a criminal investigation into whether writer E. Jean Carroll — who won a $5 million sexual-abuse/defamation verdict and a separate $83.3 million defamation judgment against Donald Trump — committed perjury in a 2022 deposition when she said no one else was funding her lawsuit, after it emerged that a nonprofit tied to Democratic donor Reid Hoffman had covered some of her legal costs. The probe is reportedly run out of the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Northern District of Illinois and tied to a broader criminal inquiry into the Hoffman trust spanning money laundering, obstruction and conspiracy, with Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche — a former Trump lawyer — recused. The Chicago U.S. Attorney, Andrew Boutros, publicly denied opening any investigation into Carroll; CNN reported that its sources reaffirmed the probe after the denial.
Trump publicly backs Kalshi and Polymarket, where son Donald Trump Jr. is a paid adviser, as his administration sues states to block their regulation
On May 27, 2026, President Trump declared on Truth Social that prediction-market firms Kalshi and Polymarket "will thrive" under his leadership and that the federal government is "setting the rules of the road" as the "gold standard for the States," while his administration actively backs the companies against state regulators. The CFTC and Department of Justice have sued Connecticut, Arizona and Illinois — and contested Minnesota's first-in-the-nation ban — to block states from regulating the operators as gambling. Donald Trump Jr. is a paid strategic adviser to both firms and his venture firm 1789 Capital is a major Polymarket investor, so the favorable federal posture directly benefits the president's family.
Southern Poverty Law Center moves to dismiss DOJ fraud indictment as vindictive prosecution
On May 26, 2026, the Southern Poverty Law Center filed a motion in the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Alabama asking a federal judge to dismiss as vindictive prosecution the 11-count indictment the Justice Department obtained against it in April 2026 on wire-fraud, false-statement, and money-laundering charges. The motion documents a sustained pattern of public hostility from President Trump and senior officials toward the civil-rights group — including Trump branding it "one of the greatest political scams in American History" — and notes the FBI and IRS reviewed the same conduct in 2019-2020 without seeking charges, only for the case to be reopened after SPLC became a frequent target of the administration. The court has not yet ruled on the motion.
DOJ files its second 2026 antisemitism lawsuit against UCLA
On May 26, 2026, the U.S. Department of Justice sued the University of California for the second time in 2026, alleging UCLA was "deliberately indifferent" to Jewish and Israeli students during pro-Palestinian encampment protests in spring 2024, in violation of Title VI. The administration had earlier sought more than $1 billion in fines against the university before a federal judge intervened, and several DOJ attorneys have resigned from the underlying investigation, telling reporters the case was "fraudulent," a "sham," and driven by pressure to "find" evidence against UCLA.
Trump DOJ moves to release Biden's private ghostwriter recordings to Heritage Foundation
The Trump Justice Department reversed the prior administration's position and gave notice it will release audio recordings and transcripts of former President Joe Biden's interviews with ghostwriter Mark Zwonitzer — material gathered during special counsel Robert Hur's classified-documents investigation — to the conservative Heritage Foundation and the House Judiciary Committee on June 15, 2026 unless a court intervenes. Biden sued the Department on May 26, 2026 to block the release, arguing the recordings contain private conversations, including about his late son Beau's death.
DOJ scrubs Jan. 6 prosecution releases, erasing records of pleas and convictions
In late May 2026, the U.S. Department of Justice mass-deleted news releases from its website detailing federal prosecutions of Jan. 6, 2021 Capitol-attack defendants — including guilty pleas, jury verdicts, and prison-sentence announcements covering portions of the roughly 1,600 cases, with assaults on Capitol and D.C. Metropolitan Police officers and seditious-conspiracy convictions of Proud Boys and Oath Keepers leaders among the purged set. The DOJ's rapid-response social-media account defended the takedown as removing "partisan propaganda" from the prior administration. The formerly accessible URLs now return "Page not found" errors.
Judge dismisses DOJ human-smuggling case against Abrego Garcia as vindictive prosecution
On May 22, 2026, U.S. District Judge Waverly Crenshaw of the Middle District of Tennessee dismissed the federal human-smuggling indictment against Kilmar Abrego Garcia, granting his motion to dismiss for selective or vindictive prosecution. The judge found the Justice Department failed to rebut the "presumption of vindictiveness," writing that the evidence "sadly reflects an abuse of prosecuting power" and that, absent Abrego Garcia's successful court challenge to his wrongful deportation to El Salvador, the government would not have brought the case. The Justice Department said the ruling was "wrong and dangerous" and that it will appeal.
FBI moved to interview Milwaukee police and Wisconsin election officials in DOJ 2020-election reinvestigation
In May 2026, FBI agents working for a Trump-administration Justice Department probe of Wisconsin's 2020 presidential election moved to interview Milwaukee Police Department officers who had been posted at polling places and the city's central ballot-counting site on Election Night 2020, and sought interviews with current and former Milwaukee election officials and Wisconsin Elections Commission deputy administrator Robert Kehoe. The Wisconsin effort extended a multi-state federal campaign — already underway in Georgia, Arizona, and Michigan — to reinvestigate Joe Biden's 2020 wins despite audits, recounts, and court rulings that found no widespread fraud. Election-law experts described the interviews as intended to intimidate election officials, noting that the federal statute of limitations for 2020-election conduct had expired.
Federal prosecutors drop all charges against Chicago 'Broadview Six' over grand jury misconduct
On May 21, 2026, the U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of Illinois moved in open court to dismiss with prejudice all remaining charges against the "Broadview Six" — protesters criminally charged over a September 2025 demonstration outside the Broadview ICE facility — after his office acknowledged misconduct in the grand jury proceedings that produced the indictment. Defense counsel said the transcripts showed prosecutors improperly vouched for evidence, concealed that an initial grand jury had refused to indict, re-presented the case after excluding grand jurors who disagreed, and redacted transcript pages without telling the court. U.S. District Judge April Perry, who reviewed the transcripts, said she had never in her career seen prosecutorial conduct as bad, and signaled a possible separate hearing on sanctions.
DOJ opinion declares Presidential Records Act unconstitutional; court orders White House to comply
In April 2026, the Justice Department's Office of Legal Counsel issued a memorandum opinion declaring the Presidential Records Act — the post-Watergate law that makes presidential records public property and requires their preservation — unconstitutional, and advised that President Trump need not comply with it. On May 20, 2026, U.S. District Judge John Bates granted a preliminary injunction in American Historical Association v. Trump, holding the Act "likely constitutional," finding a substantial risk that covered records were not being preserved, and ordering most Executive Office of the President staff to comply. The injunction takes effect at 9 a.m. on May 26, 2026; it binds White House staff but not the President or Vice President directly.
DOJ order bars IRS from auditing Trump, his family, and their businesses for prior tax returns
On May 19, 2026, the U.S. Department of Justice filed a one-page order, signed by Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche and not co-signed by the IRS, declaring the federal government "forever barred and precluded" from pursuing tax examinations of President Donald Trump, his relatives, trusts, and businesses for returns filed before the underlying settlement's effective date. The order expanded the previously announced $1.776 billion "Anti-Weaponization Fund" settlement — under which Trump and his adult sons dropped a $10 billion lawsuit against the IRS — and effectively forecloses a long-running audit that, per earlier reporting, could have produced an IRS bill exceeding $100 million. The DOJ later said the bar applies only to existing audits, not to returns Trump files in the future.
DOJ Civil Rights Division opened an investigation into Washington state's policy of housing transgender women in women's prisons
On May 19, 2026, Assistant Attorney General Harmeet Dhillon notified Washington Gov. Bob Ferguson that the U.S. Department of Justice's Civil Rights Division would open a federal civil-rights investigation, under the Civil Rights of Institutionalized Persons Act, into the Washington Corrections Center for Women in Gig Harbor over the state's policy of housing some transgender women in women's prisons. DOJ said it would examine whether the state failed to protect female prisoners from sexual and physical violence, citing potential Eighth Amendment violations. The action was the third such state probe of 2026, after DOJ notified California and Maine of similar investigations in March.
VP Vance says the DOJ is investigating Rep. Ilhan Omar, a prominent administration critic
At a White House press briefing on May 19, 2026, Vice President JD Vance said the U.S. Department of Justice is investigating Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-MN) over immigration-fraud allegations and questions about her family's finances, saying that "if we think that there's a crime, we're going to prosecute that crime." Vance, who leads the administration's anti-fraud task force, had already asserted publicly that Omar "definitely committed immigration fraud" months earlier. There is no public evidence that Omar committed immigration fraud, and the DOJ has not confirmed an active case; Omar called the probe a "racist, creepy, and weird conspiracy theory."
DOJ moved to drop foreign-bribery and fraud charges against Gautam Adani after his $10 billion U.S. investment pledge
On May 18, 2026, the U.S. Department of Justice asked U.S. District Judge Nicholas Garaufis to dismiss the criminal fraud and foreign-bribery charges against Indian billionaire Gautam Adani, saying it had decided "in its prosecutorial discretion, not to devote further resources" to the case. The move followed Adani's pledge of a $10 billion U.S. investment, which he said he could not proceed with while the case continued, and his hiring of Robert J. Giuffra Jr., one of President Trump's personal attorneys. The Biden-era indictment had accused Adani of bribing Indian officials to win solar-energy contracts while raising billions from U.S. and international investors.
DOJ created a $1.776 billion 'Anti-Weaponization Fund' to settle Trump's $10 billion lawsuit and related claims against the federal government
On May 18, 2026, the U.S. Department of Justice announced the creation of a $1.776 billion "Anti-Weaponization Fund," financed through the federal Judgment Fund, to compensate individuals who allege they were unfairly targeted by the federal government on "political, personal, or ideological grounds." The fund was established as part of an agreement under which President Trump, his two adult sons, and the Trump Organization dropped a $10 billion lawsuit against the IRS over the 2019 leak of Trump's tax returns, along with related damages claims arising from the 2022 Mar-a-Lago search and the Russia- collusion investigation. The president and co-plaintiffs receive a formal apology and no direct monetary damages; the $1.776 billion instead flows to a class of beneficiaries — Trump's broadly stated "allies" — selected by the DOJ.
Acting AG Blanche claimed a 'ton of evidence' shows the 2020 election was rigged and confirmed DOJ criminal probes into it
On Fox News' "Sunday Morning Futures" on May 17, 2026, Acting U.S. Attorney General Todd Blanche asserted there is "a ton of evidence that the election was rigged," referring to the 2020 presidential race, while providing no evidence publicly. He confirmed that the Justice Department has multiple open criminal investigations tied to 2020-election claims, including in Arizona and in Fulton County, Georgia, and said the department is "focused on finding out whether the right people voted." Blanche did not promise a definitive finding, saying the work could yield charges, a report, or investigative results.
DOJ and Texas AG Paxton secured $10M settlement forcing Texas Children's Hospital to end transgender youth care, create detransition clinic
On May 15, 2026, the U.S. Department of Justice and Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton announced a joint settlement with Texas Children's Hospital in Houston resolving a healthcare-fraud investigation into the hospital's billing for pediatric gender-affirming care. The hospital agreed to stop performing puberty-blocker and cross-sex-hormone procedures on minors, pay over $10 million in damages and civil penalties, terminate five physicians, and establish what DOJ and Paxton's office both called the nation's first dedicated "detransition clinic" funding care for patients who discontinue gender transition.
DOJ Civil Rights Division found Yale School of Medicine discriminated based on race in admissions
The Justice Department's Civil Rights Division announced on May 14, 2026 that it had determined Yale University's School of Medicine discriminated based on race in its admissions process, in violation of Title VI and the Supreme Court's 2023 SFFA v. Harvard ruling. DOJ said Yale's leadership intentionally selected applicants by race and studied racial proxies to circumvent that ruling, citing data showing Black and Hispanic applicants were admitted with lower academic qualifications than White and Asian applicants. Assistant Attorney General Harmeet K. Dhillon said Yale "continued its race-based admissions program despite the Supreme Court and the public's clear mandate."
DOJ files complaint against DC Bar to block disbarment of Jan. 6 ally Jeffrey Clark
On May 14, 2026, the U.S. Department of Justice filed a formal complaint against the District of Columbia Bar disciplinary authorities seeking to block the Bar from pursuing disbarment of Jeffrey Clark, a former senior DOJ official and Trump ally who had attempted to use the Justice Department to overturn the 2020 presidential election. DOJ argued that the state bar's disciplinary proceedings constitute improper interference with federal government functions — a legal theory that would effectively exempt former federal attorneys from professional accountability for conduct in their official capacity. The complaint was filed by Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche.
BIA fast-tracked Mahmoud Khalil's deportation case in 9-day 'unprecedented' turnaround
Internal Department of Justice case-tracking documents obtained by The New York Times and reported publicly on May 11, 2026 reveal that the Board of Immigration Appeals — an appellate body housed within the DOJ — fast-tracked the deportation case of Palestinian Columbia University activist Mahmoud Khalil along a procedural track that a former BIA member called "unprecedented." Per the internal documents, the case was flagged high-priority before the board officially received it; a staff note instructed handling Khalil's case as if he were still in detention even though he had been released several days earlier; the BIA's April 9, 2026 decision authorizing Khalil's deportation came just nine days after paperwork was submitted; and at least three judges recused themselves from the proceedings.
DOJ subpoenas Wall Street Journal reporters' records over Iran-war leaks after Trump hands acting AG Blanche stack of articles marked 'Treason'
On May 11, 2026, The Wall Street Journal publicly disclosed that the Justice Department had issued grand jury subpoenas for its reporters' records, tied to a February 23, 2026 WSJ article — five days before the Iran war began — that reported on Joint Chiefs Chairman Gen. Dan Caine and other Pentagon officials warning President Trump about the risks of an extended military campaign against Iran. CNN reported the same day that Trump personally pushed the DOJ to issue the subpoenas, delivering the directive to acting Attorney General Todd Blanche at a White House meeting in the form of a stack of printed articles topped by a sticky note reading "Treason" in Sharpie. CNN further reported that other news outlets have also received DOJ subpoenas in recent months.
CNN reveals DOJ shakeup of Brennan probe: career prosecutors warned case was too weak, told 'that's not good enough'
On May 8, 2026, CNN published an investigation detailing how the Justice Department restructured the criminal probe of former CIA Director John Brennan after career prosecutors told leadership the evidence did not support charges. At a Washington meeting earlier in 2026 attended by Southern District of Florida U.S. Attorney Jason Reding Quiñones, lead prosecutor Maria Medetis Long told acting Deputy Attorney General Colin McDonald and his top deputy Trent McCotter the case against Brennan was too weak to bring; the reply, per two people briefed on the meeting, was "that's not good enough." Medetis Long was removed days later. CNN reports that with Trump ally Joe diGenova installed in Fort Pierce, Florida, the investigation has been "essentially reset" into a broader conspiracy probe, more than 150 subpoenas have been issued, and another round of subpoenas targeting officials close to Brennan is expected. CBS News corroborates that DOJ veterans fear the probe is being staffed with Trump loyalists.
FBI opens criminal leak probe targeting the sources behind The Atlantic's reporting on Kash Patel
In early May 2026, MS NOW reported — with corroboration from PBS NewsHour, TheWrap, Poynter and Democracy Now — that the FBI had opened a criminal "insider threat" investigation into the sourcing behind Atlantic reporter Sarah Fitzpatrick's story documenting FBI Director Kash Patel's excessive drinking and erratic conduct. The probe is highly unusual: it does not stem from any disclosure of classified information and instead targets leaks to a journalist, a posture in which reporters have historically been treated only as witnesses. FBI agents assigned to the matter reportedly objected that they were not supposed to pursue it, and the bureau publicly denied the investigation.
DOJ served a sealed grand jury subpoena on Lucile Packard Children's Hospital seeking transgender minors' medical records
On May 7, 2026, the U.S. Department of Justice served a sealed grand jury subpoena on Lucile Packard Children's Hospital at Stanford, demanding the identities, diagnoses, treatment histories, and parental consent forms of patients who received gender-affirming care as minors. Prosecutors obtained the subpoena in the Northern District of Texas, a venue with no connection to the California hospital, patients, or care, after at least eight courts had quashed the department's earlier administrative subpoenas for the same records. Affected families were given no notice.
DOJ Civil Rights Division found UCLA medical school discriminated based on race in admissions
The Justice Department's Civil Rights Division announced on May 6, 2026 that the David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA intentionally discriminated based on race in its admissions process, in violation of the Supreme Court's 2023 SFFA v. Harvard ruling. DOJ said its investigation found admitted Black and Hispanic applicants had consistently lower academic qualifications than their white and Asian counterparts, and Assistant Attorney General Harmeet K. Dhillon said the school focused on "racial demographics at the expense of merit and excellence." The finding was part of a broader Civil Rights Division campaign targeting medical-school admissions that also produced actions against Yale and UC Davis.
DOJ Civil Rights Division opened investigation into elected Fairfax prosecutor over immigrant-defendant policies
On May 6, 2026, the U.S. Department of Justice's Civil Rights Division opened a formal investigation into Fairfax County, Virginia, Commonwealth's Attorney Steve Descano, an elected Democratic prosecutor, over his office's charging, plea-bargaining, and sentencing policies toward immigrant defendants. The Division said it would examine whether the office gave immigrant defendants preferential treatment in violation of federal civil-rights law. The probe was announced about a week before Descano's scheduled congressional testimony.
DOJ in Puerto Rico halted drugs-for-votes election-fraud probe after Trump win
On May 5, 2026, ProPublica disclosed that in November 2024 — days after Donald Trump won the presidency and Jenniffer González-Colón clinched Puerto Rico's governorship — supervisors at the U.S. Attorney's Office for the District of Puerto Rico ordered line prosecutors to drop voting-fraud counts and all charges against prison staff from a built-out drugs-for-votes indictment, and after Trump took office told them to abandon the probe of any campaign ties entirely. The pulled charges arose from evidence that the Los Tiburones prison gang traded drugs for inmate votes for González-Colón in 2024 and that the candidate had communicated with a gang leader on WhatsApp during the primary. In the weeks that followed, Puerto Rico's resident commissioner and four U.S. House Democrats publicly called for a DOJ Inspector General and congressional investigation; González-Colón has denied wrongdoing and has not been charged.
DOJ filed complaint to block Minnesota's state-court climate lawsuit against oil companies
On May 4, 2026, the Department of Justice filed a complaint in U.S. District Court for the District of Minnesota seeking to halt the state's own pending lawsuit against fossil-fuel companies for climate damages, arguing the state suit was preempted by the Constitution and the Clean Air Act. Associate Attorney General Stanley Woodward and the Environment and Natural Resources Division brought the action explicitly invoking Trump's executive order directing DOJ to "protect American energy from state overreach." The filing was the fifth such DOJ complaint against state climate accountability lawsuits, following similar actions against Hawaii, Michigan, New York, and Vermont.
DOJ shut down San Francisco immigration court ahead of schedule after firing most judges, leaving 100,000 cases in limbo
The Justice Department closed the main San Francisco immigration court at 100 Montgomery Street on May 1, 2026, eight months ahead of the originally announced year-end date, after firing or forcing out at least 20 of the court's judges. More than 100,000 pending cases were reassigned to the Concord Immigration Court roughly an hour away; advocates said hearings on transferred cases would not begin until at least December 2026. The court had historically denied asylum at roughly half the national average rate; DOJ cited cost savings, while advocates said the closure targeted a court that had been favorable to asylum seekers.
DOJ issues criminal subpoena to NYU Langone Health for private trans youth medical records
The U.S. Attorney's Office for the Northern District of Texas issued a criminal subpoena to NYU Langone Health, one of New York City's largest hospital systems, demanding private medical records of transgender minors who received gender-affirming care from 2020 onward — including patient identities, provider information, and whether the hospital codes gender-affirming procedures under alternative names — despite HIPAA protections. Three trans minors and two trans adults who were minors during their care, represented by the ACLU, NYCLU, and Lambda Legal, filed suit to block the disclosure; New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani's Law Department filed an amicus brief in their support on June 13, 2026. The subpoena is part of a coordinated multi-state DOJ effort targeting more than 20 hospital systems; federal courts in Rhode Island, Maryland, and California have already blocked similar demands. On June 24, 2026, a federal judge granted a classwide temporary restraining order blocking the DOJ from seeking or obtaining the records.
DOJ anti-Christian bias task force published report urging federal realignment toward Christian religious-liberty claims
On April 30, 2026, the Presidential Task Force to Eradicate Anti-Christian Bias, created by Executive Order 14202 and chaired by Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche, published its report asserting that the prior administration's prosecutions, policies, and practices were pervasively anti-Christian. The report documents claimed bias across seventeen federal agencies and endorses realigning federal enforcement, hiring, and civil-rights priorities toward claims framed as Christian religious liberty. It cites steps already taken, including rescinding a Biden-era school-board memo and withdrawing prior interpretations of employment-discrimination law.
Court filing revealed DOJ officials sought Illinois voter data to purge noncitizens; emails showed staff directed to conceal purpose
On April 30, 2026, attorneys for the Illinois AFL-CIO and other intervening parties filed court documents in the federal NVRA lawsuit in Springfield, Illinois, including internal DOJ emails obtained through a public records lawsuit, showing that the Justice Department's demand for unredacted state voter rolls was aimed at identifying and purging suspected noncitizens. A June 2025 email from Deputy Assistant Attorney General Michael Gates explicitly described cross-referencing state voter rolls against the DHS SAVE immigration database for that purpose, while a November 2025 email from Acting Voting Section Chief Eric Neff directed staff to respond to states' questions about data use only with "We will use the data in a manner consistent with Federal law" and say nothing more. DOJ has filed similar NVRA suits in approximately 30 states and Washington, D.C.; six have already been dismissed.
ICE returns agent who killed Renée Good to duty with no discipline as FBI probe stalls
By late April 2026, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement had quietly returned agent Jonathan Ross — who fatally shot unarmed Minneapolis mother Renée Good on January 7, 2026 — to active administrative and investigative duty in another state with no disciplinary consequence. ICE's internal-affairs review remains frozen pending a stalled FBI probe, after the DOJ Civil Rights Division under Harmeet Dhillon declined to open a civil-rights investigation into the shooting.
Federal grand jury indicts ex-FBI Director James Comey a second time over '86 47' post
A federal grand jury in the Eastern District of North Carolina indicted former FBI Director James Comey on April 28, 2026, on two counts arising from a May 2025 Instagram post of seashells arranged to read "86 47," which the Justice Department casts as a death threat against President Trump. The charges follow the 2025 collapse of an earlier DOJ case against Comey and the dismissal weeks earlier of Attorney General Pam Bondi, whom Trump faulted for not pursuing his agenda aggressively enough.
Washington Post investigation found DOJ hired immigration judges for ideological alignment, two-thirds lacking immigration-law experience
A Washington Post investigation published April 27, 2026, found that the Justice Department's Executive Office for Immigration Review has been hiring immigration judges chosen for alignment with the administration's mass-deportation agenda rather than legal qualification. Since January 2025 the DOJ has fired more than 100 immigration judges and appointed over 140 new ones, two-thirds of whom list no immigration-law experience and more than three-quarters of whom never worked at the DOJ, ICE, or the immigration courts. Recent hires include a men's-rights divorce attorney with no immigration background, an attorney who promoted debunked conspiracy theories, and a former judge whose past asylum ruling an appeals court found was distorted by anti-gay stereotyping.
DOJ directs the Federal Bureau of Prisons to expand federal execution protocol to include the firing squad
On April 24, 2026, the U.S. Department of Justice announced — in a same-day press release from the Office of Public Affairs paired with the Office of Legal Policy report "Restoring and Strengthening the Federal Death Penalty" — that it had directed the Federal Bureau of Prisons to expand the federal execution protocol to include the firing squad alongside other methods, and to reinstate the pentobarbital lethal-injection protocol used during the first Trump administration. The DOJ also directed BOP to consider relocating or expanding federal death row or constructing an additional execution facility to accommodate the added methods. Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche announced the action; the underlying report's preparation had been directed by former Attorney General Pamela Bondi.
DOJ announces forthcoming rule to narrow federal habeas review of state capital convictions under Chapter 154
On April 24, 2026, the U.S. Department of Justice announced — in a same-day press release from the Office of Public Affairs paired with the Office of Legal Policy report "Restoring and Strengthening the Federal Death Penalty" — that it planned to publish a proposed rule that would "empower states to streamline federal habeas review of capital cases" under Chapter 154 of Title 28, with DOJ saying the rule "will reduce by years the period between conviction and execution in state capital cases." Federal habeas review of state convictions has been the principal vehicle for federal-court oversight of state capital cases since 1867; an administrative rule that materially narrows that review would curtail a long-standing federal check on state criminal-justice systems without legislative action.
DOJ announced a rule barring federal capital inmates from filing clemency petitions until direct appeals and a first collateral attack are final
On April 24, 2026, the U.S. Department of Justice announced — in a same-day press release from the Office of Public Affairs paired with the Office of Legal Policy report "Restoring and Strengthening the Federal Death Penalty" — that it planned to publish a proposed rule prohibiting capital inmates from submitting clemency petitions, and the Office of the Pardon Attorney from considering them, until the inmate's direct appeal and first collateral attack are final. The rule, within DOJ's claimed rulemaking authority, would for the first time foreclose for years at a time a clemency remedy that historically has run in parallel with — not after — judicial review.
BIA precedent narrows DACA-based termination of removal in Matter of Santiago-Santiago
On April 24, 2026, the Board of Immigration Appeals — an administrative appellate tribunal within the Department of Justice's Executive Office for Immigration Review — issued a precedent decision, Matter of Santiago-Santiago, 29 I&N Dec. 589 (BIA 2026), holding that an immigration judge "erred" by terminating removal proceedings solely because the respondent, DACA recipient Catalina "Xóchitl" Santiago, held active Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals status, without weighing the Department of Homeland Security's reasons for opposing termination. The three-judge appellate panel sustained DHS's appeal, vacated the immigration judge's termination, and remanded the case to a different immigration judge. The ruling is binding on immigration judges nationwide and narrows what had operated as a de facto class-wide protection for the roughly 500,000 active DACA recipients, without any statutory or formal regulatory change to the DACA program itself.
DOJ refers 384 naturalized Americans for denaturalization in record-volume push
On April 23, 2026, The New York Times first reported that the U.S. Department of Justice had identified 384 foreign-born, naturalized U.S. citizens as a "first wave" of denaturalization targets, with cases being distributed to federal prosecutors in 39 U.S. Attorney's offices across the country. A DOJ spokesperson, citing the leadership of President Trump and Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche, called it "the highest volume of denaturalization referrals in history." The push follows a June 2025 directive from Assistant Attorney General Brett Shumate ordering the Civil Division to "prioritize and maximally pursue" denaturalization, with an internal cadence of roughly 100–200 referrals per month — against a 1990–2017 baseline of about 11 cases per year and a total of 120 cases attempted between 2017 and the end of 2025.
DOJ concealed from courts and states its plan to vet voter rolls against DHS citizenship data, internal emails revealed
On April 21, 2026, a coalition of voting-rights groups led by Common Cause sued the U.S. Department of Justice in Washington, D.C.; the filing, alongside roughly 1,200 pages of internal DOJ communications obtained through FOIA litigation, revealed the department had spent nearly a year collecting states' unredacted voter rolls to cross-check against the Department of Homeland Security's SAVE citizenship system while withholding that intent from courts and Democratic election officials. In a November 2025 email, DOJ Voting Section leader Eric Neff advised telling states only that the department would "use the data in a manner consistent with Federal law" and to "say nothing more," asserting that "no judge will have authority to limit us beyond a promise of Federal law compliance." The department had also sued 31 election chiefs to compel production of unredacted voter registration data.
DOJ indicts Southern Poverty Law Center on 11 counts of fraud over $3M informant payments
On April 21, 2026, a federal grand jury in Montgomery, Alabama returned an 11-count indictment against the Southern Poverty Law Center, charging the 55-year-old civil-rights organization with wire fraud, false statements to a federally insured bank, and conspiracy to commit concealment money laundering over a covert program in which the SPLC says it paid confidential sources to infiltrate violent extremist groups. The indictment came after the FBI under Director Kash Patel had severed its long-running relationship with the SPLC, and amid publicly expressed presidential pressure on the Justice Department to pursue prosecutions of political opponents. SPLC interim CEO Bryan Fair said the organization was "targeted" by the administration and that its informant work "saved lives."
DOJ subpoenaed personal data of ~3,000 Fulton County 2020 election workers to reinvestigate Trump's stolen-election claims
On April 20, 2026, the U.S. Department of Justice served a grand-jury subpoena on Fulton County, Georgia's director of elections demanding the names, positions, residential and email addresses, and personal phone numbers of nearly 3,000 people who worked the 2020 election, from county staff to volunteer and temporary poll workers. The demand was part of a DOJ effort to reinvestigate former President Trump's unfounded claims that the 2020 election was stolen. A federal judge later quashed the subpoena, calling its scope "staggering."
DOJ installs Trump legal ally Joe diGenova as Counselor to the Attorney General assigned to the Brennan probe in Fort Pierce
On April 18, 2026, the U.S. Department of Justice installed Joseph diGenova — a longtime Washington attorney, former U.S. Attorney for the District of Columbia, and a Trump legal-team adviser during the Mueller investigation who has publicly backed efforts to overturn the 2020 election — as Counselor to the Attorney General in the Southern District of Florida, assigned to the federal criminal investigation of former CIA Director John Brennan. The appointment came one day after the Justice Department removed career national-security prosecutor Maria Medetis Long from the Brennan probe after she resisted bringing charges career prosecutors judged unsupported by the evidence. Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche, seeking to retain the job after President Trump fired Attorney General Pam Bondi earlier in April over dissatisfaction at the pace of cases against Trump's political adversaries, drove the appointment.
DOJ removes career federal prosecutor leading the Brennan investigation after she resisted bringing charges career staff judged unsupported
On April 17, 2026, the U.S. Department of Justice removed Maria Medetis Long — the career federal prosecutor heading the national-security section at the U.S. Attorney's Office in Miami and leading the federal criminal investigation of former CIA Director John Brennan — after she resisted pressure from senior DOJ leadership to file charges career prosecutors had told the Department the evidence did not support. U.S. Attorney Jason Reding Quiñones had earlier told DOJ leadership that charges could still be months away. Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche, seeking to retain the job after President Trump fired Attorney General Pam Bondi earlier in April over dissatisfaction at the slow pace of cases against Trump's political adversaries, has been pressing to deliver indictments on the president's priority targets.
DOJ declined France's judicial-assistance request in the criminal probe of Musk's X, citing the First Amendment
On April 17, 2026, the U.S. Department of Justice's Office of International Affairs sent French authorities a two-page letter declining their request for assistance in France's criminal investigation of Elon Musk's X, accusing French prosecutors of misusing their legal system to interfere with an American business. The letter framed the French probe — opened in 2025 over X's content-selection algorithm and expanded after a February 2026 raid of X's Paris office — as an effort to regulate a public square for free expression contrary to the First Amendment. The refusal, reported by The Wall Street Journal on April 18 and endorsed publicly by Musk, was one of three French assistance requests the Department rebuffed.
Ex-Attorney General Pam Bondi defies bipartisan House subpoena, skipping Epstein-files deposition
Former Attorney General Pam Bondi failed to appear on April 14, 2026 for her subpoenaed closed-door deposition before the House Oversight Committee in its Jeffrey Epstein files investigation. The Justice Department had announced on April 8 that she would not appear, asserting the subpoena — issued after a bipartisan committee vote and naming "the Honorable Pamela Jo Bondi" personally — lapsed when President Trump removed her as Attorney General on April 2. Oversight Democrats introduced a civil-contempt resolution in response.
DOJ fired 4 prosecutors who handled FACE Act cases against anti-abortion activists, citing 'weaponization'
On April 14, 2026, the U.S. Department of Justice fired four career prosecutors who had handled Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances (FACE) Act cases against anti-abortion clinic-blockade defendants during the Biden administration, coinciding with the first report from DOJ's "Weaponization Working Group." Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche accused the prior administration of "selective prosecution" and said the department would not tolerate "a two-tiered system of justice." The firings are part of a broader pattern of the department removing career staff perceived as insufficiently aligned with the administration's agenda.
DOJ demands Wayne County, Michigan turn over all ~865,000 ballots from the 2024 election
On April 14, 2026, U.S. Assistant Attorney General for Civil Rights Harmeet Dhillon sent a demand letter to Wayne County Clerk Cathy Garrett invoking the Civil Rights Act of 1960 to require turnover of all ballots, receipts, and envelopes — roughly 865,000 — cast in the November 2024 federal election in Michigan's most populous county, where Kamala Harris won by a margin of about a quarter-million votes. The letter cited a long-dismissed 2020 civil suit and three 2020-era voter-fraud convictions as its predicate, gave the clerk 14 days to comply, and threatened a court order. Michigan's governor, secretary of state, and attorney general publicly rejected the demand and refused to comply.
DOJ fires six immigration judges, including two who blocked deportations of Öztürk and Mahdawi
The Justice Department on April 10, 2026 fired six immigration judges, among them Boston judge Roopal Patel, who ruled in January that the government had no grounds to deport Tufts doctoral student Rümeysa Öztürk, and Chelmsford, Massachusetts judge Nina Froes, who in February dismissed deportation proceedings against Columbia activist Mohsen Mahdawi. Both judges were dismissed by email mid-hearing near the end of their probationary periods, in a purge in which the National Association of Immigration Judges says at least 113 of roughly 750 immigration judges have been fired since January 2025.
DOJ sued Washtenaw County, Michigan to strike down ICE non-cooperation policies, invoking the Supremacy Clause
On April 10, 2026, the U.S. Department of Justice filed a civil lawsuit in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Michigan against Washtenaw County, challenging three county policies that limit cooperation with federal immigration enforcement. The suit, authorized by Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche, invokes the Constitution's Supremacy Clause and asks the court to permanently enjoin the county from enforcing the policies. Washtenaw County said it would vigorously defend its positions in court.
USPS proposed lifting handgun-mailing ban after DOJ opinion, benefiting retailer where Trump Jr. holds a stake
The U.S. Postal Service published a proposed rule in the Federal Register on April 2, 2026 to lift the 1927 federal prohibition on mailing handguns, acting on a Department of Justice Office of Legal Counsel opinion issued January 15, 2026 that found the ban unconstitutional as applied to handguns. The Washington Post later reported that Donald Trump Jr. holds more than 300,000 shares and a board seat in GrabAGun, an online firearms retailer whose business model depends on expanded ability to ship guns directly to buyers. Trump Jr.'s spokesperson and administration officials denied any influence over the policy change.
DOJ sued Idaho to compel release of unredacted, sensitive voter roll data
On April 1, 2026, the U.S. Department of Justice sued Idaho Secretary of State Phil McGrane, asking a federal court to order him to produce the state's complete, unredacted voter registration list, including partial Social Security and driver's-license numbers for Idaho's roughly 1 million registered voters. The suit followed McGrane's refusal of DOJ's September 2025 demand and a December 2025 threat of litigation, and was the department's 30th such suit against a state for declining to hand over its full voter file.
U.S. Department of Justice subpoenaed Reddit via secret D.C. grand jury to unmask anti-ICE critic
On March 31, 2026, the Department of Justice ordered Reddit to appear before a secret federal grand jury in Washington, D.C., by April 14 and hand over the name, address, phone number, IP address, and other identifying data of an anonymous user who had criticized ICE in posts. The subpoena came four days after DOJ withdrew a separate administrative summons seeking the same information, which the user's attorneys had moved to quash in federal court in California.
DOJ sues Minnesota to force transgender athletes out of girls' sports
The Justice Department filed a federal lawsuit against the Minnesota Department of Education and the Minnesota State High School League, alleging that the state's trans-inclusive athletics policies violate Title IX by allowing transgender girls to compete in girls' sports and use girls' locker rooms and bathrooms. The suit seeks a permanent injunction barring transgender girls from female-designated sports, sex-separated locker rooms and bathrooms, compensation for female athletes, and "correction" of past athletic records — with roughly $2.98 billion in annual federal education funding at stake.
Trump signs EO 14398 exposing federal contractors' DEI programs to False Claims Act liability
On March 26, 2026, President Trump signed Executive Order 14398, "Addressing DEI Discrimination by Federal Contractors," directing agencies to insert a mandatory clause — flowing down to subcontractors at every tier — that bars "racially discriminatory" diversity, equity, and inclusion practices and makes compliance material to government payment decisions, exposing contractors to False Claims Act liability and to cancellation, suspension, or debarment. The order directs the Attorney General to prioritize False Claims Act enforcement against violators and defines covered "program participation" expansively to include training, mentoring, leadership-development programs, clubs, and associations. A legal challenge was filed within days, and the new clause was set to take effect April 24, 2026.
DOJ opened civil-rights investigations into California and Maine for housing transgender women with female inmates
The U.S. Department of Justice announced on March 26, 2026 that it is investigating whether California and Maine violate female inmates' constitutional rights by housing transgender women with them at three correctional facilities. Assistant Attorney General Harmeet Dhillon framed the action as protecting incarcerated women, while Maine's governor's spokesman called it "a politically motivated, predetermined investigation designed to target states that stand up to the Trump Administration."
Deputy AG Blanche boasts every DOJ and FBI employee who investigated Trump is gone
At a CPAC fireside chat on March 26, 2026, Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche declared that every Justice Department and FBI employee who worked on the criminal investigations into President Trump had been fired, resigned, or taken early retirement — "not a single man or woman" remained — putting the DOJ figure at "over 200." His public confirmation marked the completion of a systematic purge of the career personnel who had investigated the president, with termination letters citing employees' prosecution work as the reason they could not be "trusted."
DOJ opened civil-rights investigation into LAUSD's gender-identity disclosure policy for transgender students
On March 25, 2026, the Justice Department's Civil Rights Division sent a letter to Los Angeles Unified School District opening a civil-rights investigation into the district's gender-identity disclosure policy, which gives school staff discretion on whether to inform parents about a student's gender identity. The probe was authorized by Assistant Attorney General Harmeet Dhillon, who framed the action around what she called parents' fundamental rights to direct their children's upbringing and education. The investigation was connected in part to a lawsuit from parents who allege LAUSD's policy contributed to the suicide of their transgender child.
DOJ agrees to pay Trump ally Michael Flynn $1.25M to settle malicious-prosecution suit
On March 25, 2026, the U.S. Justice Department agreed to pay $1.25 million to retired Lt. Gen. Michael Flynn, President Trump's former national security adviser, to settle his lawsuit alleging malicious prosecution over his 2017 criminal case. Flynn had pleaded guilty to lying to the FBI and was later pardoned by Trump; he originally sued for $50 million in 2023 and revived the case after Trump returned to office. The settlement was reached under DOJ leadership Flynn publicly thanked by name.
DOJ moved to dismiss remaining charges against ex-officers who falsified Breonna Taylor warrant
On March 20, 2026, Justice Department prosecutors under Assistant Attorney General Harmeet Dhillon asked a federal judge in Louisville to dismiss "in the interest of justice" the remaining misdemeanor civil-rights charges against former Louisville detective Joshua Jaynes and former Sgt. Kyle Meany, the two officers accused of falsifying the warrant used in the 2020 raid that killed Breonna Taylor. The charges, originally brought as felonies by DOJ under the Biden administration, had already been reduced twice to misdemeanors by judges who found no direct link between the false warrant information and Taylor's death. The dismissal request followed the same DOJ's separate push, months earlier, for early release of Brett Hankison, the only officer convicted in connection with Taylor's killing.
FBI obtains Arizona Senate's 2020 Maricopa election audit records via grand-jury subpoena
In early March 2026 the FBI served the Arizona Senate a federal grand-jury subpoena for digital records from the chamber's discredited 2021 "audit" of Maricopa County's 2020 presidential election; Senate President Warren Petersen, a Republican, disclosed on March 9 that he had received and complied with it. The 2021 review — run by the Trump-allied firm Cyber Ninjas — had itself confirmed that Joe Biden won the county. State election officials condemned the subpoena as part of a federal campaign to relitigate an election that President Trump lost.
DOJ stands up working group to fast-track indictments of Cuban Communist Party leaders
In early March 2026, U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of Florida Jason A. Reding Quiñones stood up a multi-agency working group, including the Treasury Department's Office of Foreign Assets Control, directed to pursue rapid criminal indictments of Cuban Communist Party and military leadership on drug, economic, immigration, and violent-crime charges. Reporting framed the initiative as a politically driven effort deliberately modeled on the DOJ's earlier narco-terrorism case against Venezuela's Nicolás Maduro, whose indictment was used to justify his removal. The working group produced an April 23, 2026 grand-jury indictment of 94-year-old former Cuban president Raúl Castro and other senior figures, announced May 20, 2026.
DOJ proposes rule letting the Attorney General halt state bar discipline of its attorneys
On March 5, 2026, the U.S. Department of Justice published a proposed rule (RIN 1105-AB82; 28 CFR Part 77) granting the Attorney General authority to review any state, territorial, or D.C. bar disciplinary complaint against a current or former DOJ attorney for conduct in their federal duties, and to demand that the bar suspend its investigation pending that review. The rule states that if a bar refuses, "the Department shall take appropriate action to prevent the bar disciplinary authorities from interfering." It followed bar inquiries into DOJ lawyers such as Lindsey Halligan, whose prosecutions of James Comey and Letitia James were dismissed after a judge found her appointment unlawful.
DOJ rescinds 2021 no-knock entry limits, broadening when agents can enter homes unannounced
On March 2, 2026, Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche issued a Justice Department memo rescinding the 2021 policy that restricted federal agents' use of "no-knock" entries to situations where they feared imminent physical danger. Under the new memo, no-knock entries are also permissible whenever there is a risk that evidence could be destroyed — a condition former prosecutors warned can be asserted in nearly any search. The change was made by internal memo without public rulemaking and was reported on the eve of the sixth anniversary of Breonna Taylor's death in a botched no-knock raid.
DOJ charges 30 more over anti-ICE Minnesota church protest, bringing total to 39 defendants
On February 27, 2026, the U.S. Justice Department unsealed a superseding indictment in the U.S. District Court for the District of Minnesota charging 30 additional people — bringing the total to 39 — over the January 18 anti-ICE protest at Cities Church in St. Paul. All 39 are charged under place-of-worship civil-rights statutes, including the Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances (FACE) Act, with conspiring to interfere with and interfering with the free exercise of religion; the defendants include independent journalists Don Lemon and Georgia Fort, who say they were covering the protest as reporters. Attorney General Pam Bondi announced that 25 of the 30 newly charged had been arrested, even though a magistrate judge had earlier found no probable cause to arrest several defendants, including the journalists.
Miami prosecutor expands 'grand conspiracy' probe of Trump's investigators to 2016 Russia inquiry
On February 26, 2026, The New York Times reported that Jason A. Reding Quiñones, the U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of Florida, had expanded a criminal "grand conspiracy" inquiry into former law-enforcement and intelligence officials who investigated Donald Trump, with subpoenas issued in recent weeks now reaching the FBI's 2016 investigation of ties between the Trump campaign and Russia and FBI interviews probing the 2020 false-electors case. The expansion built on subpoenas the Miami office issued in November 2025 — which went to figures including former Director of National Intelligence James Clapper and former FBI officials Peter Strzok and Lisa Page — and a broadened late-January 2026 round seeking documents about the January 2017 intelligence-community assessment on Russian election interference. The Times noted there is no evidence the separate inquiries were a single plot, and that tying the Washington-based Russia and false-electors matters to the Florida classified-documents case lets prosecutors use a Miami grand jury drawn from a less Democratic jury pool.
DOJ withheld and removed Epstein-file records tied to a Trump sexual-abuse allegation
An NPR investigation published February 24, 2026 found that the Justice Department's public Epstein-files database was missing dozens of pages of FBI records connected to a woman's allegation that Donald Trump sexually abused her as a minor in the early 1980s. NPR reported that roughly 53 pages of interview notes were withheld or removed — some briefly taken offline and not fully restored — while other Epstein materials remained public. The DOJ said unpublished records were privileged, duplicative, or under review, and House Democrats and the Republican committee chair each announced investigations into the omissions.
DOJ fired judge-appointed interim US Attorney James Hundley hours after his unanimous EDVA appointment
On February 20, 2026, the federal judges of the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia unanimously appointed defense attorney James Hundley as interim U.S. Attorney, succeeding Trump loyalist Lindsey Halligan, whose own appointment a federal judge had ruled invalid three months earlier. Hours later, Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche announced on social media that Hundley was fired, writing "EDVA judges do not pick our US Attorney. POTUS does."
Judge held DOJ lawyer in contempt after ICE released habeas petitioner in Texas without ID, defying Minnesota order
On February 18, 2026, U.S. District Judge Laura Provinzino held Justice Department attorney Matthew Isihara in civil contempt after ICE released habeas petitioner Rigoberto Soto Jimenez in El Paso, Texas without his identification documents, defying her order that he be released in Minnesota with his property returned. Provinzino lifted the contempt finding one day later once the documents were returned, but rejected the government's understaffing excuse as a problem "of its own making."
DOJ logged members of Congress's search histories as they reviewed unredacted Epstein files
It emerged that the Department of Justice had logged and tracked the searches members of Congress ran while reviewing unredacted Epstein files on DOJ systems, and a printout titled "Jayapal Pramila Search History" was photographed in Attorney General Pam Bondi's materials at a House Judiciary Committee hearing. Rep. Pramila Jayapal confirmed the listed searches were hers; the DOJ said it "logs all searches made on its systems," framing the practice as protecting victim information. Speaker Mike Johnson called the tracking not "appropriate," and Democratic lawmakers demanded the department end what they described as surveillance of the legislative branch.
Nebraska handed the Justice Department its full voter file, including partial Social Security numbers, while an appeal was still pending
On February 12, 2026, Nebraska Secretary of State Bob Evnen transmitted the state's entire voter registration database to the U.S. Department of Justice, including every registered voter's full name, home address, date of birth and the last four digits of their Social Security, driver's license or state ID number. The transfer came one day after the Nebraska Supreme Court declined to enjoin it while an appeal by Common Cause Nebraska proceeded, and it formed part of a DOJ campaign that had by then sought voter files from 44 states and sued more than 20 of them.
Attorney General Bondi told the House Judiciary Committee under oath that Maxwell was not moved to a lower-security prison
On February 11, 2026, Attorney General Pam Bondi testified before the House Judiciary Committee and, asked by Rep. Deborah Ross whether Ghislaine Maxwell had received special treatment in prison, answered that she did not know Maxwell was being transferred and that Maxwell "was not transferred to a lower-level facility," later repeating twice that it was a "same level" prison. The Bureau of Prisons, which falls under Bondi's department, classifies FCI Tallahassee — where Maxwell had been held — as low security and FPC Bryan, where the Justice Department moved her in August 2025 after she met with Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche, as a minimum-security prison camp.
DOJ sought grand jury indictment of six lawmakers over anti-illegal-orders video; grand jury rejected the case
On February 10, 2026, attorneys from the office of Jeanine Pirro, the Trump-appointed U.S. Attorney for the District of Columbia, presented a criminal case to a federal grand jury seeking to indict six Democratic members of Congress — Sens. Mark Kelly and Elissa Slotkin and Reps. Jason Crow, Maggie Goodlander, Chris Deluzio, and Chrissy Houlahan — over a November 2025 social media video reminding military and intelligence personnel of their duty to refuse illegal orders. The grand jury declined to find probable cause, rejecting the indictment; no career federal prosecutors were involved in bringing the case. The attempt followed President Trump's public accusations that the lawmakers had committed "seditious" acts "punishable by death," and came about two months after an FBI counterterrorism inquiry into the same six lawmakers over the same video.
DOJ moved to dismiss Steve Bannon's Jan. 6 contempt-of-Congress conviction, seeking to erase it rather than pardon him
On February 9, 2026, the Justice Department — through U.S. Attorney Jeanine Pirro's filing, publicly backed by Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche — asked both the federal district court and the Supreme Court to dismiss Steve Bannon's 2022 contempt-of-Congress conviction with prejudice, stating only that "dismissal of this criminal case is in the interests of justice." Bannon had already served his four-month sentence for defying a Jan. 6 committee subpoena; the filing sought to erase the conviction itself rather than secure a pardon.
Montana Free Press revealed Secretary of State Jacobsen told DOJ her office had satisfied its demand for the state's voter file
On February 4, 2026, Montana Free Press reported that emails obtained through a public-records request showed Secretary of State Christi Jacobsen's office had told the U.S. Department of Justice on December 2, 2025 that Montana had "fully satisfied" DOJ's August 14, 2025 demand for the state's complete voter registration list, which sought voters' full names, dates of birth, addresses, driver's license numbers, and the last four digits of Social Security numbers. The reporting did not establish the precise date the underlying file was transmitted or confirm which of the requested sensitive fields it contained; Jacobsen's office subsequently denied providing "confidential" or "unredacted" voter data without explaining the discrepancy with its own written confirmation to DOJ.
Judge Blackwell found ICE, DHS and DOJ routinely defied orders releasing Minnesota detainees; DOJ ended the testifying attorney's detail
On February 3, 2026, U.S. District Judge Jerry Blackwell found in open court in St. Paul, Minnesota that U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, the Department of Homeland Security and the Justice Department had routinely failed to comply with orders releasing immigration detainees, leaving people jailed for days or weeks after judges ordered them freed. Questioned about noncompliance in cases she was handling, Special Assistant U.S. Attorney Julie Le, who had been assigned 91 immigration cases in under a month, told Blackwell that "this job sucks" and that she lacked "the power or the voice" to fix a broken system. The U.S. Attorney's Office ended Le's detail the following day, and DHS publicly called her conduct "unprofessional and unbecoming."
Federal grand jury indicts independent journalist Georgia Fort and former CNN anchor Don Lemon under FACE Act for covering anti-ICE church protest
On January 30, 2026, federal agents arrested independent journalist Georgia Fort and former CNN anchor Don Lemon following an anti-ICE protest at Cities Church in St. Paul, Minnesota, where a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement official serves as pastor. A federal grand jury in Minnesota indicted both on charges of "conspiracy against right of religious freedom at place of worship" under the Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances (FACE) Act of 1994. Both journalists have maintained they were reporting on the protest, not participating in it. As of mid-May 2026, Fort reports that the legal constraints of the pending prosecution have functionally silenced significant portions of her newsgathering.
AG Bondi posted sealed booking photos of 16 Minnesota defendants in violation of a court sealing order
On January 28, 2026, then-Attorney General Pam Bondi posted on X the names and booking photos of 16 people arrested in the Minneapolis-St. Paul area on federal charges of assaulting or impeding immigration officers, describing them as "rioters," while their cases remained under a federal court sealing order. Magistrate Judge Dulce Foster later found in one of the cases that Bondi's post "directly violated a court order sealing the case" and "thumbed its nose at the notion that defendants are innocent until proven guilty."
FBI raids Fulton County, Georgia election office to seize 2020 ballots; DNI Gabbard joins
On January 28, 2026, FBI agents executed a federal search warrant at the Fulton County, Georgia election office in Union City, seizing the physical 2020 presidential-election ballots, ballot images, tabulator tapes, and voter rolls of the county Donald Trump falsely blames for his narrow Georgia loss. The warrant followed a December 2025 Justice Department lawsuit demanding the records; Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard — who has no domestic law-enforcement authority — joined the raid, ran a parallel election-fraud inquiry, and arranged a call for Trump to thank the agents. County officials said the seizure left them unable to vouch for the chain of custody of the 2020 records.
Federal prosecutors misreported ICE detainee's Maine location to court, nearly stripping habeas jurisdiction
Court filings entered Jan. 26, 2026 revealed that the U.S. Attorney's Office for the District of Maine, relying on incorrect location information from U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, told a federal judge that immigration detainee Cristian Yair de la Cruz Guillermo had been moved to Massachusetts -- which would have stripped the Maine court of habeas jurisdiction over his case -- before correcting the claim the same day to say he remained in Fort Fairfield, Maine. U.S. District Judge John Woodcock Jr. then issued a temporary restraining order barring CBP, ICE, DOJ and DHS officials from moving Guillermo out of state, citing a similar location misreport in an unrelated detainee's case.
Trump announced DOJ and Congress were investigating Rep. Ilhan Omar's finances amid Minnesota fraud scandal
On January 26, 2026, President Trump wrote on Truth Social that the Justice Department and Congress were "looking at" Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-MN), tying the claim to her reported net worth and an ongoing Minnesota fraud investigation involving mostly Somali-American defendants. White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt told reporters the same day that the administration was "very focused on getting to the bottom of" whether Omar was connected to the fraud rings. The Justice Department had not confirmed an active case, and Omar called the post a deflection from Trump's declining support.
AG Bondi demanded Minnesota turn over voter rolls, Medicaid/SNAP data, end sanctuary policies amid deadly ICE crackdown
On January 24, 2026, U.S. Attorney General Pamela Bondi sent Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz a letter demanding the state hand over its voter rolls, Medicaid and SNAP recipient data, and repeal its "sanctuary" policies, framing compliance as a path to end the federal immigration surge in the Twin Cities. The letter came hours after Border Patrol agents fatally shot U.S. citizen Alex Pretti in Minneapolis. Minnesota Secretary of State Steve Simon rejected the demand as "an outrageous attempt to coerce Minnesota," and Gov. Walz called the voter-roll request unrelated to any legitimate concern.
DOJ and FBI arrest anti-ICE church-protest organizers under FACE Act and conspiracy statute
On January 22, 2026, Attorney General Pam Bondi and FBI Director Kash Patel announced federal charges against Minneapolis civil-rights organizer Nekima Levy Armstrong, St. Paul school-board member Chauntyll Allen, and others over a January 18 anti-ICE demonstration inside Cities Church in St. Paul, where one pastor also directs the local ICE field office. The activists were charged under the Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances (FACE) Act and 18 U.S.C. § 241 (conspiracy against rights); Levy Armstrong was processed and released the same day after a federal magistrate found insufficient evidence to detain her. These were the first arrests in a prosecution that a February 27 superseding indictment would expand to 39 defendants.
DOJ opens criminal investigation into Gov. Tim Walz and Mayor Jacob Frey over their anti-ICE statements
On January 16, 2026, the U.S. Justice Department opened a criminal investigation into Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz and Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey over an alleged conspiracy to impede federal immigration agents during Operation Metro Surge, the roughly 3,000-agent ICE and Border Patrol deployment to the Twin Cities. Sources told CBS News the inquiry rests on 18 U.S.C. Section 372 and stems from the officials' public criticism of the operation, which had intensified after an ICE agent killed Minnesota resident Renee Good on January 7. Subpoenas to Walz, Frey, Attorney General Keith Ellison, the St. Paul mayor's office, and two counties followed the next week.
Public Citizen found agencies canceled or froze 159 corporate enforcement actions in Trump's first year, many tied to inaugural donors
A Public Citizen report published January 15, 2026 found that during the first year of President Trump's second term, federal agencies — including the Justice Department, SEC, FTC, and CFPB — canceled or froze 159 enforcement actions against 166 corporations that had been under federal investigation or prosecution. Of the companies that received favorable treatment, 31 had donated to Trump's inauguration or White House ballroom fund, a pattern the group had flagged in advance in an April 2025 analysis warning the donations "may serve as down payments" for dropped cases. The report documents the systemic collapse of corporate enforcement rather than asserting a proven quid pro quo in any individual case.
CBS News report revealed DOJ immigration court locked out independent observers at Minneapolis's Whipple building
CBS News Minnesota reported on January 14, 2026 that immigration court officials at the Bishop Henry Whipple Federal Building in Minneapolis had locked courtroom doors, denied or severely restricted independent observers' access, and stripped names and complete case numbers from case records — a pattern the advocacy group The Advocates for Human Rights said has continued since early 2025. DOJ's own published policy states immigration courts are open to the public except when a judge grants a motion to close a hearing or limit attendance; no such motion or other government justification for the restrictions was reported.
FBI searched Washington Post reporter Hannah Natanson's Alexandria, Virginia home, seized her devices in Pentagon leak probe
On January 14, 2026, FBI agents executed a search warrant at the Alexandria, Virginia home of Washington Post reporter Hannah Natanson and seized her phone, two laptops, a recorder, a portable hard drive, and a Garmin watch, as part of a Pentagon-referred Justice Department leak investigation into a government contractor accused of taking home classified reports. Attorney General Pam Bondi said the search was conducted at the Defense Department's request; Natanson and the Post were not targets of the underlying probe, but the seizure cut off her access to more than 1,000 confidential sources and her ongoing reporting on the administration's downsizing of the federal workforce.
Slotkin revealed Pirro's office sought interviews with Democratic lawmakers over anti-illegal-orders video
Sen. Elissa Slotkin revealed on January 14, 2026 that Jeanine Pirro, the Trump-appointed U.S. Attorney for the District of Columbia, had asked to interview her the previous week about a November 2025 video in which she and five other Democratic members of Congress reminded U.S. troops of their duty to refuse illegal orders. Reps. Jason Crow, Maggie Goodlander, and Chrissy Houlahan confirmed to reporters that they received similar interview requests from Pirro's office. The requests followed a November 2025 FBI counterterrorism interview request over the same video and preceded a February 2026 attempt by Pirro's office to indict the same six lawmakers before a grand jury.
CNN report reveals Pentagon directed dozens of active-duty military lawyers to prosecute civilians in Minneapolis
On January 13, 2026, CNN reported that Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth had directed the military services to identify 40 judge advocate general officers, from which 25 would be selected to serve as Special Assistant U.S. Attorneys prosecuting civilians in Minneapolis amid an immigration-enforcement crackdown. The detailing of active-duty uniformed lawyers to Justice Department prosecutions followed similar moves in Washington, D.C., and Memphis, and drew challenges under the 1878 Posse Comitatus Act, which restricts the use of the military for domestic law enforcement. Former JAG officers argued the practice assigned uniformed military attorneys to prosecute ordinary civilian crimes unrelated to the armed forces.
Justice Department was investigating Renee Good's widow while declining to investigate the ICE agent who killed her
By January 13, 2026, the U.S. Department of Justice was pursuing a criminal investigation into Becca Good, the widow of Renee Good — fatally shot by ICE agent Jonathan Ross during Operation Metro Surge — for allegedly impeding a federal officer, while Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche said there was "currently no basis" for a civil-rights investigation into Ross. The dual decision, which drew on a statute from Attorney General Pam Bondi's December domestic-terrorism memo, prompted at least a dozen career federal prosecutors to resign across the Minnesota U.S. Attorney's office and the DOJ Civil Rights Division's criminal section. Minnesota Governor Tim Walz said "the only person not being investigated for the shooting of Renee Good is the federal agent who shot her."
DOJ opened criminal probe of Federal Reserve Chair Powell with no evidence, using renovation costs as pretext for Trump's rate-policy feud
Around January 11, 2026, the Justice Department served the Federal Reserve with grand jury subpoenas, opening a criminal investigation of Chair Jerome Powell focused on $2.5 billion in headquarters renovation cost overruns — a probe that followed months of Trump publicly attacking Powell for refusing to lower interest rates faster. At a March 3 court hearing, the lead prosecutor told U.S. District Judge James Boasberg "we do not know at this time" what evidence of fraud or criminal misconduct existed; the judge quashed the subpoenas on March 13, finding the government had produced "essentially zero evidence to suspect Chair Powell of a crime" and calling the investigation's justifications "pretextual."
U.S. District Court dismissed DeSoto Parish's 1967 school desegregation order at DOJ, Louisiana AG's request, without a desegregation finding
On January 5, 2026, U.S. District Judge S. Maurice Hicks Jr. granted a joint motion by the U.S. Department of Justice and Louisiana Attorney General Liz Murrill's office to dismiss a 1967 federal desegregation order governing the roughly 5,000-student DeSoto Parish School Board in northwest Louisiana. It was the second Louisiana desegregation decree the Trump administration and Murrill's office have had dismissed through "joint stipulated dismissals" that require no finding that a district actually ended segregation, following an earlier dismissal of a 1966 Plaquemines Parish order. Murrill said the ruling gives DeSoto Parish "its school system back"; no independent finding that segregation had been eliminated in the district was reported.
Trump ordered military raid to capture Venezuela's Maduro in Caracas without congressional authorization or advance notice
President Trump ordered a U.S. military and CIA raid, "Operation Absolute Resolve," that captured Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro and his wife Cilia Flores at their Caracas compound in the early hours of January 3, 2026, without seeking congressional authorization or notifying congressional leadership in advance. More than 150 aircraft and Delta Force commandos took part in the operation, which killed an unspecified number of Venezuelan security personnel; Maduro was extracted to the USS Iwo Jima and flown to New York to face U.S. drug-trafficking charges. Trump and administration officials characterized the raid as a law-enforcement action under the president's Article II authority rather than an act of war, a framing several senators in both parties disputed.
2025 Events (41)
U.S. Coast Guard seizes Panama-flagged oil tanker Centuries off Venezuela as Trump's oil 'blockade' escalates
In a pre-dawn operation on Saturday, Dec. 20, 2025, the U.S. Coast Guard seized a Panama-flagged oil tanker named Centuries off Venezuela, the second sanctioned tanker the United States took within roughly ten days, as part of President Trump's declared "total and complete blockade" of sanctioned oil vessels entering or leaving Venezuela. The White House called Centuries a "falsely flagged vessel operating as part of the Venezuelan shadow fleet," while Venezuela condemned the seizure as "a serious act of piracy" and said it would complain to the U.N. Security Council.
DOJ sued Colorado to compel release of unredacted, sensitive voter roll data
On December 11, 2025, the U.S. Department of Justice's Civil Rights Division sued Colorado Secretary of State Jena Griswold in the U.S. District Court for the District of Colorado, seeking to compel production of the state's complete, unredacted voter registration database, including voters' full names, dates of birth, and driver's-license or Social Security number fragments. The suit, filed under the Civil Rights Act of 1960, followed Griswold's May and December 2025 refusals to share the unredacted data and a November 2025 letter, which she led with nine other secretaries of state, asking DOJ and the Department of Homeland Security to clarify how the collected data would be used and shared.
Trump directed U.S. forces to seize oil tanker Skipper off Venezuela, opening blockade campaign without congressional authorization
On December 10, 2025, U.S. forces seized the crude-oil tanker Skipper off the coast of Venezuela in a pre-dawn operation launched from the USS Gerald R. Ford, boarding the vessel with Coast Guard and Marine personnel under a DOJ civil-forfeiture warrant. President Trump announced the seizure at a White House event, declaring the U.S. would keep the roughly 1–2 million barrels of Venezuelan crude on board. The action — the first vessel seizure of a broader oil-blockade campaign — was carried out without congressional authorization; Venezuela condemned it as "an act of international piracy."
AG Bondi ordered FBI to compile list of Americans by political viewpoint
Attorney General Pam Bondi issued a Justice Department memo ordering the FBI to compile a list of Americans and groups engaged in acts constituting "domestic terrorism." The memo targeted individuals expressing opposition to immigration enforcement, support for mass migration and open borders, and adherence to radical gender ideology. Bondi directed the FBI to establish a cash reward system for informants and retroactively investigate conduct from the past five years.
DOJ fired eight immigration judges at Manhattan's 26 Federal Plaza, including assistant chief judge
On December 1, 2025, the Trump administration abruptly fired eight immigration judges working at 26 Federal Plaza in Manhattan, including Assistant Chief Immigration Judge Amiena Khan, per two Justice Department officials cited by the New York Times. The court, a focal point of ICE courthouse arrests for months, was left severely understaffed as part of a nationwide purge that had already removed nearly 90 immigration judges over the prior year.
FBI probes Democratic lawmakers for First Amendment-protected video on military constitutional duties
The FBI's counterterrorism division contacted six Democratic members of Congress on November 25, 2025 to request interviews following President Trump's public accusations that they committed "seditious" acts. The six—Sens. Mark Kelly and Elissa Slotkin and Reps. Jason Crow, Maggie Goodlander, Chris Deluzio, and Chrissy Houlahan—had released a video reminding U.S. military personnel of their constitutional obligation to refuse unlawful orders, protected First Amendment speech in response to the Trump administration's strikes on Latin American targets. The inquiry came one day after the Pentagon threatened to recall Sen. Kelly to active duty for potential military charges.
DOJ sued California to block state laws requiring federal agents to visibly identify themselves and barring masks
On November 17, 2025, the U.S. Department of Justice sued California, Gov. Gavin Newsom, and Attorney General Rob Bonta over two state laws enacted that September: the No Vigilantes Act, which requires federal law enforcement officers to visibly display identification, and the No Secret Police Act, which bars them from wearing face masks while on duty. DOJ argued both laws unconstitutionally regulate the federal government under the Supremacy Clause and endanger officers by exposing them to doxxing and violence. A Ninth Circuit panel later enjoined enforcement of the identification requirement pending DOJ's appeal.
Lawsuit revealed DOJ conditioned FY2025 COPS policing grants on anti-DEI and immigration-cooperation certifications
On October 28, 2025, the City and County of San Francisco, Santa Clara County, and the City of Tucson sued the U.S. Department of Justice and Attorney General Pamela Bondi in federal court, revealing that DOJ's fiscal year 2025 COPS community-policing grants barred funds for any program that "advances diversity, equity, inclusion, and accessibility" and required grantees to certify compliance with all current and future presidential executive orders and with federal immigration-enforcement cooperation. Chicago and St. Paul filed a parallel lawsuit in Illinois on November 12, 2025 over the same conditions attached to their own COPS awards. Both suits argued the conditions exceeded DOJ's statutory authority and violated the Spending Clause and separation of powers.
Attorney General Bondi deployed federal election monitors to polling sites in New Jersey and California following GOP requests
On October 24, 2025, Attorney General Pamela Bondi announced that the Department of Justice would deploy federal election monitors to polling sites in Passaic County, New Jersey, and five California counties (Los Angeles, Orange, Kern, Riverside, and Fresno), following requests from Republican state officials. The monitors, described as election observers, were positioned at polling locations to oversee election administration.
DOJ pressured Meta into removing 80,000-member Chicago ICE-sightings Facebook group; court later found it unconstitutional coercion
On October 14, 2025, Meta removed "ICE Sighting-Chicagoland," an approximately 80,000-member Facebook group where users reported ICE agent sightings, hours after Attorney General Pamela Bondi publicly credited "outreach from the DOJ" for the takedown and said the department would keep pressing tech companies on similar groups. On April 18, 2026, a federal judge found the administration had "demanded, rather than requested" that Facebook and Apple censor this category of speech, granting a preliminary injunction against the practice as a likely First Amendment violation.
DOJ pressured Apple to remove ICE-accountability archive app Eyes Up from the App Store
On October 3, 2025, Apple removed Eyes Up — an app built by Indiana resident Mark Hodges through the Kreisau Group that archived publicly posted videos and news reports documenting ICE enforcement activity — from the App Store, one day after Apple pulled ICEBlock under U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi's public takedown demand. Apple had reviewed and approved Eyes Up in August 2025 without objection and gave no legal basis for the removal beyond contact from law enforcement. Hodges said the administration was "embarrassed by how many incriminating videos we have."
Attorney General Bondi demanded Apple remove ICE-tracking app ICEBlock; Apple complied same day
On October 2, 2025, U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi publicly demanded that Apple remove ICEBlock, a free app that let users anonymously report ICE agent sightings within roughly a five-mile radius, from the App Store, and Apple complied the same day. Apple had previously approved the app and, in response to inquiries, cited safety concerns relayed by law enforcement rather than identifying any legal violation. Developer Joshua Aaron later sued the Trump administration, alleging the DOJ's demand constituted unconstitutional government coercion.
DOJ eliminated its Community Relations Service, the "Peacemakers" civil-rights mediation office, via mass layoff notices
On Sept. 29, 2025, the U.S. Department of Justice issued reduction-in-force notices eliminating its Community Relations Service, the 1964 civil-rights-era "Peacemakers" conciliation office, as a standalone unit. The department's budget documents said CRS would close all its offices by the end of fiscal 2025, citing a mismatch with "law enforcement and litigating priorities." A federal judge later declined to block the layoffs while finding civil-rights groups suing over the cuts likely to prevail on their claim that only Congress may eliminate a congressionally created agency.
DOJ obtained an order empaneling a Fort Pierce, Florida grand jury to investigate Crossfire Hurricane and Brennan
On September 26, 2025, Chief U.S. District Judge Cecilia Altonaga signed an administrative order authorizing an additional federal grand jury to sit in Fort Pierce, Florida beginning January 12, 2026, which ABC News later reported was sought at the Trump administration's request. Conservative activist Mike Davis, an informal adviser to Attorney General Pam Bondi who said he had "pushed very hard" for it, publicly described the jury as reopening a decade-old "conspiracy" investigation reaching former CIA Director John Brennan and other officials tied to the 2016 Russia inquiry, and Brennan's own attorney confirmed by December 2025 that Brennan had been formally named a target.
DOJ sued six states including Pennsylvania to force disclosure of sensitive voter data
On September 25, 2025, the U.S. Department of Justice sued six states — California, Michigan, Minnesota, New York, New Hampshire, and Pennsylvania — demanding they turn over sensitive personal voter data including full names, dates of birth, driver's license numbers, and the last four digits of Social Security numbers. The DOJ invoked the National Voter Registration Act, the Help America Vote Act, and the Civil Rights Act of 1960, claiming the states were violating federal law by refusing to produce unredacted voter registration rolls. Pennsylvania Secretary of State Al Schmidt, a Republican, characterized the demand as a "concerning attempt" to consolidate federal control over state election administration, emphasizing that "in the United States of America, it's the states who run elections, not the federal government."
Attorney General Bondi fired Miami prosecutor Rosenzweig over years-old anti-Trump blog posts, part of DOJ purge of critics
Attorney General Pam Bondi fired federal prosecutor Will Rosenzweig from the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Southern District of Florida in Miami on September 23, 2025, less than three hours after conservative commentator Natalie Winters publicized years-old blog posts Rosenzweig had written as a private citizen criticizing Donald Trump. Rosenzweig, a five-year veteran of the office, was two weeks from trying a multimillion-dollar Medicare fraud case at the time; his firing was part of what reporting described as a broader personnel purge inside the Justice Department of prosecutors and agents seen as insufficiently loyal to the administration.
DOJ filed emergency SCOTUS petition to remove Federal Reserve Governor Lisa Cook, challenging independent-agency firing protections
On September 18, 2025, Solicitor General D. John Sauer filed an emergency application with the U.S. Supreme Court seeking to lift lower-court injunctions blocking President Trump's August 25 firing of Federal Reserve Board Governor Lisa Cook. Two courts had found Cook likely to succeed on the merits, ruling that the Federal Reserve Act's "for cause" removal protection shielded her position. The DOJ argued the injunctions were "untenable" and asked the Court to intervene before the Federal Open Market Committee's scheduled September meeting.
Trump signed a fourth executive order directing DOJ not to enforce the PAFACA TikTok divestment law, suspending the statute through December
President Trump signed EO 14350 on September 16, 2025, directing the Department of Justice to take no enforcement action under the Protecting Americans from Foreign Adversary Controlled Applications Act through December 16, 2025 — the fourth consecutive executive order suspending a congressionally enacted, SCOTUS-upheld statute without legislative authorization.
Wyoming became the first state to hand the Justice Department its voters' driver's license and partial Social Security numbers
On August 28, 2025, Wyoming Secretary of State Chuck Gray transmitted the state's complete voter registration list, including driver's license numbers and partial Social Security numbers, to the U.S. Department of Justice in response to a June 2025 DOJ request, making Wyoming the first state to fully comply with the department's nationwide voter-roll collection campaign. The transfer drew little public attention until Wyoming Democrats and the League of Women Voters of Wyoming criticized it after DOJ's broader voter-data campaign drew national scrutiny.
AG Bondi installed DEA administrator as DC 'emergency police commissioner' with authority over MPD chief; administration retreated after lawsuit
On August 14, 2025, Attorney General Pam Bondi issued a directive naming DEA Administrator Terry Cole as Washington D.C.'s "emergency police commissioner," ordering that the Metropolitan Police Department must receive Cole's approval before issuing any operational orders—effectively placing a federal official with no local jurisdiction above the elected city government's police chief. The DC Attorney General filed suit, and within 24 hours the Trump administration backed down, revising Cole's role to Bondi's "designee" and restoring the MPD chief's operational authority. No statute authorizes the U.S. Attorney General to appoint a police commissioner for the District of Columbia.
AG Bondi opened DOJ investigations into Sen. Adam Schiff and NY AG Letitia James, appointing Trump ally Ed Martin as special attorney for both probes
On August 8, 2025, Attorney General Pamela Bondi formally opened Department of Justice investigations into Sen. Adam Schiff (D-CA) and New York Attorney General Letitia James — both prominent Trump critics — appointing conservative activist and former interim D.C. U.S. Attorney Ed Martin as special attorney to lead both probes. The referrals came exclusively from FHFA Director Bill Pulte, a Trump loyalist with no prosecutorial background, who alleged mortgage fraud by each official. Prosecutors subsequently found insufficient evidence to bring charges and the Schiff probe stalled.
National Park Service fired Yosemite ranger Shannon Joslin over transgender flag protest, referred them for prosecution
On July 30, 2025, the National Park Service fired Yosemite wildlife biologist and park ranger Shannon Joslin, citing a flag-size rule enacted the day after Joslin and fellow activists hung a transgender pride flag on El Capitan on their day off. Days later, NPS referred the matter to the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Eastern District of California, which began evaluating Joslin for criminal prosecution over the same flag display.
AG Bondi filed judicial misconduct complaint against Chief Judge Boasberg, seeking removal from deportation cases
Attorney General Pam Bondi directed the Department of Justice to file a formal judicial misconduct complaint against Chief Judge James Boasberg of the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia on July 29, 2025, alleging he made "improper" remarks at a closed judicial conference where he reportedly expressed concern the Trump administration would defy court orders and trigger a "constitutional crisis." The complaint, filed with D.C. Circuit Chief Judge Sri Srinivasan, explicitly requested Boasberg's reassignment from deportation cases and a special-committee investigation. Boasberg had presided over multiple rulings blocking Trump administration deportation flights prior to the complaint.
AG Pamela Bondi issued guidance classifying DEI programs as unlawful discrimination, threatening federal grant revocation
On July 29, 2025, Attorney General Pamela Bondi issued a formal DOJ guidance memorandum directing all recipients of federal funds — including universities, hospitals, and state governments — to treat diversity, equity, and inclusion programs as potentially unlawful under federal antidiscrimination statutes. The guidance defined prohibited practices including race-based scholarships, DEI training programs, and mentorship programs limited to specific groups, with violations subject to grant revocation and False Claims Act liability. The DOJ simultaneously activated its Civil Rights Fraud Initiative to prosecute non-compliant funding recipients.
Bondi designated Bill Essayli "first assistant" to a vacant post to bypass Senate confirmation for LA's top federal prosecutor job
On July 29, 2025, days before his 120-day interim term as U.S. Attorney for the Central District of California was set to expire, Bill Essayli resigned as interim U.S. Attorney and Attorney General Pam Bondi designated him "first assistant U.S. attorney," letting him continue running the Los Angeles office as its acting head without ever facing Senate confirmation. A federal judge ruled in October 2025 that Essayli's resulting "acting" status was unlawful, and a unanimous Ninth Circuit panel found the identical maneuver unlawful in a Nevada case in August 2026, but DOJ has kept Essayli in place under the same title.
DOJ designated Sigal Chattah 'first assistant' to a vacant post to bypass Senate confirmation for Nevada's top prosecutor job
On July 28, 2025, two days before her 120-day interim term as Nevada's U.S. Attorney was set to expire, Sigal Chattah resigned as interim U.S. Attorney and the Justice Department designated her "first assistant U.S. attorney" for the District of Nevada the same day, leaving the top post itself vacant and letting her continue serving as "acting" U.S. Attorney under the Federal Vacancies Reform Act without ever facing Senate confirmation. Attorney General Pam Bondi made the designation; Nevada's two Democratic senators called it an unconstitutional maneuver to keep an unconfirmable nominee in office without a floor vote.
Five federal agencies simultaneously stripped immigrant access to life-safety benefit programs, revoking 24 years of DOJ guidance
On July 10-11, 2025, five federal departments — Justice, Health and Human Services, Education, Agriculture, and Labor — simultaneously issued notices rescinding decades-old guidance that had protected immigrant access to federal benefit programs under the "necessary to protect life or safety" exception in the 1996 Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act. The DOJ withdrew its 2001 Attorney General interpretation identifying which programs qualified, effective August 15, 2025; HHS rescinded a 1998 policy keeping Head Start, community health clinics, and Title X accessible; the Department of Education revoked its 1997 guidance covering adult education and postsecondary programs. Multiple states sued immediately.
DOJ subpoenaed six years of records on every minor treated for gender dysphoria at Rhode Island Hospital
On July 9, 2025, the Justice Department served an administrative subpoena on Rhode Island Hospital demanding roughly six years of records — identities, addresses, diagnoses, treatments, and parents' names — for every minor treated there for gender dysphoria. The subpoena was one strand of a nationwide DOJ campaign that came to target more than 20 doctors and hospitals providing gender-affirming care to minors. The hospital did not comply; nearly ten months later a federal judge quashed the demand, holding it "lacks a congressionally authorized purpose" and was "issued in bad faith for an improper purpose," and tying it directly to White House policy direction. DOJ has appealed.
DHS stripped independent board review from immigration civil-penalty appeals, cutting the window to 15 business days
On June 27, 2025, DHS and DOJ's Executive Office for Immigration Review published an interim final rule that took appeals of immigration civil penalties away from DOJ's Board of Immigration Appeals and gave them to a DHS supervisory officer, while cutting the response window from 30 days to 15 business days and eliminating the option for an in-person interview. The rule governs fines of up to $998 per day under INA Section 274D for failing to depart after a final removal order; DHS told CNN in 2026 that it had assessed more than $84 billion in such fines against over 100,000 people since the start of Trump's second term, including a $1.8 million fine against a man who had already left the country and twice submitted evidence of his departure.
Trump signed EO 14310, third consecutive order directing DOJ not to enforce TikTok divestment law
President Trump signed Executive Order 14310 on June 19, 2025, extending for a third consecutive time the non-enforcement of the Protecting Americans from Foreign Adversary Controlled Applications Act, which required ByteDance to divest or cease operating TikTok by January 19, 2025. The order extended the DOJ non-enforcement period to September 17, 2025, retroactively immunized all past non-compliance dating back to the statutory deadline, and declared state-level enforcement of the law an encroachment on executive power.
DOJ Civil Division memo elevated denaturalization to top-five priority, expanding revocation criteria far beyond fraud-in-naturalization
On June 11, 2025, Assistant Attorney General Brett Shumate signed a DOJ Civil Division enforcement memo making denaturalization one of the division's top five priorities, directing attorneys to "prioritize and maximally pursue denaturalization proceedings in all cases permitted by law and supported by the evidence." The memo expanded revocation criteria beyond war criminals and fraud-in-naturalization to include PPP loan fraud, Medicaid fraud, gang membership, and a catch-all "any other cases" category—affecting all 24.5 million naturalized Americans, who have no right to appointed counsel in these civil proceedings.
DOJ criminally charged Rep. LaMonica McIver over her congressional oversight visit to an ICE detention facility
On June 10, 2025, then-interim U.S. Attorney for New Jersey Alina Habba announced a three-count federal criminal complaint charging U.S. Rep. LaMonica McIver (D-NJ) with forcibly impeding and interfering with federal officers during a May 9, 2025 congressional oversight visit to the Delaney Hall ICE detention facility in Newark, New Jersey. A federal grand jury indicted McIver the next day; prosecutors allege she struck and grabbed a Homeland Security Investigations agent and pushed past an ICE deportation officer while lawmakers moved to prevent Newark Mayor Ras Baraka's arrest inside the facility. McIver has pleaded not guilty and calls the prosecution political retaliation for her legislative oversight role.
DOJ filed motion to terminate Flores Settlement Agreement, eliminating court-ordered protections for immigrant children in custody
On May 22, 2025, the U.S. Department of Justice filed a motion in federal court to terminate the Flores Settlement Agreement, a 1997 court settlement that has set minimum care standards and a 20-day detention cap for immigrant children in federal custody for nearly three decades. Attorney General Pam Bondi's DOJ argued termination was warranted by post-settlement regulations and a 2022 Supreme Court ruling. Judge Dolly Gee denied the motion in August 2025, finding the government remained in substantial noncompliance with the settlement's terms.
Trump administration pressured Secret Service to warrantlessly surveil Comey after 'seashells' post
On the night of May 15, 2025, President Trump and administration officials pressured U.S. Secret Service agents to warrantlessly access former FBI Director James Comey's phone location data after Comey posted an Instagram photo of seashells arranged to spell "86 47." Secret Service personnel warned internally that they lacked a warrant or a reasonable basis to believe Comey posed an imminent threat, but the agency issued an emergency request to Verizon and tracked Comey's phone as he drove from North Carolina toward Virginia. The pressure and warrantless tracking were disclosed in July 2026 through internal Secret Service records filed in Comey's separate federal criminal case.
FBI Director Patel ordered 2,000 agents permanently shifted to immigration enforcement, gutting counterterrorism capacity
FBI Director Kash Patel directed field offices nationwide to permanently shift approximately 2,000 special agents — roughly 45% of agents in the 25 largest field offices — to full-time immigration enforcement operations during the week of May 12–14, 2025. The directive siphoned resources from counterterrorism, counterintelligence, organized crime, and fraud investigations; individual field offices lost half or more of their agents to immigration work, and the Justice Department simultaneously deprioritized white-collar and corporate crime investigation.
DOJ criminally charged sitting Milwaukee judge Hannah Dugan with obstructing ICE arrest in her courtroom
The Justice Department on April 25, 2025 filed federal criminal charges against sitting Milwaukee County Circuit Court Judge Hannah Dugan, accusing her of obstructing ICE agents who sought to arrest a defendant, Eduardo Flores-Ruiz, following his hearing in her courtroom. Dugan was later convicted by a federal jury and, on July 8, 2026, sentenced to a $5,000 fine with no prison time.
AG Bondi issued memo directing FBI and DOJ to investigate and prosecute gender-affirming care providers for minors
On April 22, 2025, Attorney General Pamela Bondi issued a memorandum titled "Preventing the Mutilation of American Children" directing the FBI to investigate gender-affirming care providers for criminal violations and directing DOJ's Consumer Protection Branch and Civil Division Fraud Section to pursue misbranding and False Claims Act cases against manufacturers and medical providers. The memo simultaneously announced the "Attorney General's Coalition Against Child Mutilation," a formal partnership with state attorneys general to coordinate criminal and civil enforcement against hospitals and practitioners. Gender-affirming care for minors was legal under federal law at the time the memo was issued.
DOJ fired pardon attorney Liz Oyer after she refused to restore Mel Gibson's gun rights
On March 7, 2025, then-Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche's office fired Justice Department Pardon Attorney Liz Oyer via a three-sentence memo, hours after she declined to recommend restoring the firearm rights of actor Mel Gibson, a Trump ally with a 2011 domestic-violence conviction. Attorney General Pam Bondi's office restored Gibson's gun rights the following month. Oyer has since testified publicly, including before the Senate Judiciary Committee in July 2026, that she was fired for refusing to carry out the favor.
AG Bondi directed DOJ Civil Rights Division to dismiss Title VII disparate-impact enforcement suits against police and fire departments
On February 26, 2025, Attorney General Pam Bondi directed the Department of Justice's Civil Rights Division to dismiss multiple Biden-era lawsuits against police and fire departments accused of discriminatory hiring. The dismissed cases alleged that written aptitude and physical fitness tests produced racially disparate outcomes in violation of Title VII of the Civil Rights Act. Bondi framed the dismissals as ending "DEI quotas," although the underlying lawsuits involved standard disparate-impact enforcement that federal courts have upheld since 1971.
Acting DAG Bove ordered firing of Jan. 6 prosecutors and review of thousands of FBI agents who worked Capitol riot cases
On January 31, 2025, Acting Deputy Attorney General Emil Bove issued a memo directing Acting U.S. Attorney for D.C. Edward Martin to immediately terminate 20–40 line prosecutors who had worked January 6 Capitol riot cases and been converted from temporary to permanent status. Bove separately ordered FBI Acting Director Brian Driscoll to compile a list of all current and former FBI employees who had worked the January 6 investigation "at any time" — a directive Driscoll acknowledged could encompass thousands — and ordered eight senior FBI executive assistant directors terminated by February 3. Acting Attorney General James McHenry issued a parallel memo stating the prosecutors had "hindered" DOJ's ability to implement Trump's agenda.
CBP agents denied Samuel Tunick a lawyer during a warrantless, pretextual border search targeting his Stop Cop City activism
On January 24, 2025, U.S. Customs and Border Protection agents pulled Atlanta activist Samuel Tunick into secondary inspection at Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport, denied him access to a lawyer despite his requests, and told him no warrant was required because he had not yet formally entered the country. When Tunick entered his phone's passcode, a GrapheneOS duress feature wiped the device; agents seized it regardless. Tunick's attorneys allege the stated child-exploitation-imagery pretext for the stop was fabricated and that CBP was actually investigating his ties to the Defend the Atlanta Forest movement. Federal prosecutors later indicted Tunick under a statute against destroying property to prevent government seizure — the first known federal case charging use of a duress password — and he pleaded not guilty and moved to suppress the evidence, arguing the underlying search was unlawful.