First,
the
Trump
administration gutted
the
DOJ’s
Civil
Rights
Division,
probably
because
it
was too concerned
about
protecting
constitutional
rights.
Whoever
still
remained
was
“allowed”
to
do
whatever
Trump’s
DOJ
(now
headed
by
yet
another
regrettable
Trump
pick, Pam
Bondi)
wanted
it
to
do…
like
go
to
bat for
the Second
Amendment,
which
has
never
been
seriously
threatened
by
anyone
anywhere
since
its
inception.
Whoever
didn’t
get
fired
for
not
being
all-MAGA,
all
the
time
decided
it
was
time
to
call
it
a
career.
Anyone
who
forgot
to
lie
to
courts
or
failed
to
push
abject
bullshit
past
federal
judges was
shown
the
door.
And
with
the
Civil
Rights
division
(or
CRT
in
DOJ
parlance)
down
to
just
the
Trump
loyalists,
it
would
have
made
sense
to
do
as
little
as
possible
with
these
extremely
limited
resources.
But
Trump
wants
more
stuff
to
be
done
and
he’s
quickly
running
out
of
people
with
the
civil
rights
litigation
experience
to
do
it, as
Eric
Katz
reports
for
Government
Executive.
The
Justice
Department
is
soliciting
staff
within
its
Civil
Rights
Division
to
take
reassignments
to
fill
vacancies
in
areas
related
to
education,
employment
and
voting,
with
leaders
citing
the
“deep
need”
created
by
significant
vacancies.
The
requests
come
as
the
division
has
shed
hundreds
of
employees—or
more
than
60%
of
its
workforce—since
January
and
the
Trump
administration
has
assigned
attorneys
to
tackle
new
priorities.
The
department
is
now
scrambling
to
fill
vacancies
it
has
incentivized
employees
to
leave
through
the
extended
paid
leave
program
known
as
“deferred
resignations,”
early
retirement
and
other
offers.
Obviously,
this
has
nothing
to
do
with
a
suddenly
renewed
interest
in
investigating
abusive
law
enforcement
agencies
or
otherwise
trying
to
restore
and
uphold
a
whole
lot
of
severely
bruised
civil
rights.
No,
this
scramble
for
litigators
is
entirely
propelled
by
the
Trump
administration’s
undying
interest
in
making
America
worse
again.
This
version
of
the
DOJ
CRT
is
missing
nearly
three-quarters
of
its
legal
team
thanks
to
Trump.
And
somehow
the
DOJ
thinks
the
priorities
of
the
Trump
administration
will
attract
some
litigators
who
have
left
as
well
as
convince
others
doing
less
heinous
things
(maybe!)
this
shift
in
focus
will
be
good
for
their
careers,
even
if
it
won’t
do
much
for
their
souls.
The
head
of
CRT,
Harmeet
Dhillon,
has
a
list
of
priorities
that
all
sound
pretty
good
in
theory:
education,
employment,
and
voting.
In
practice,
it’s
an
absolute
horror
show.
In
May,
for
example,
Deputy
Attorney
General
Todd
Blanche
created
the
Civil
Rights
Fraud
Initiative
to
investigate
any
recipient
of
federal
funds
that
promotes
diversity,
equity
and
inclusion,
allows
antisemtism—which
the
administration
has
increasingly
defined
as
college
campuses
that
enable
protests
against
the
Israeli
government—supports
transgender
women
playing
women’s
sports
or
other
perceived
violations
of
administration
policy.
[…]
Under
its
new
mission
statement,
the
voting
section
is
now
focused
on
ensuring
accurate
voter
databases
and
eliminating
fraud.
Sen.
Peter
Welch,
D-Vt.,
said
in
a report he
issued
last
week
on
the
changes
taking
place
at
CRT
that
the
section
has
gone
“from
protecting
voting
rights
to
restricting
voting
access.”
The
employment
section
has
recently
shifted
away
from
pursuing
cases
in
which
organizations
allegedly
engaged
in
race-based
pay
discrimination.
Yep,
these
positions
are
open
to
anyone
willing
to
help
the
DOJ
censor
students,
mistreat
transgender
kids,
support
voter
suppression
efforts,
and
let
companies
get
away
with
paying
people
less
just
because
they
aren’t
white.
There’s
nothing
involving
civil
rights
happening
here,
at
least
not
in
a
positive
way.
Instead,
the
DOJ
is
hoping
there
are
still
enough
lawyers
left
in
the
building
to
assist
Trump
in
ideological
lawfare
efforts
that most voters
—
even
many
of
his
own
—
don’t
support.
This
is
an
entire
administration
consumed
with
a
undying
passion
for
punching
down.
No
one
here
is
seeking
to
elevate
anyone
but
themselves.
The
only
thing
we
might
be
able
to
enjoy
—
at
least
for
the
time
being
—
is
that
they’ve
fired
so
many
people
they
don’t
have
enough
people
left
to
help
them
with
their
punching.
DOJ
Has
Lost
So
Many
Lawyers
It
Might
Not
Have
Enough
Left
To
Help
Trump
Destroy
America
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