During his 20 months as Attorney General, Jeff Sessions has brought in perhaps the most dramatic political shift in memory at the Justice Department, from the civil rights-centered agenda of the Obama era to one that favors his hard-line conservative views on immigration, civil rights and social issues. Discontent and infighting have taken hold at DOJ, in part because Sessions has ignored dissent, at times putting the Trump administration on track to lose in court and prompting high-level departures, reports the New York Times, citing employees who asked not to be named for fear of retribution. People interviewed, one-third of whom worked under both the Bush and Obama administrations, said their concerns extended beyond political differences they might have with Sessions, who is expected to leave after November’s midterm elections.
“Since I’ve been a lawyer, going back to the late 1970s, I can’t recall a time when morale has been as low as I have heard from some former colleagues,” said Robert Litt, a DOJ official during the Clinton administration. Sessions spokeswoman Sarah Isgur Flores said he is committed to the mission of upholding the rule of law and knows of “no department employee who is opposed to policies that uphold the rule of law and protect the American people.” Sessions’s shift in priorities reflects President Trump’s promises to be tough on crime and crack down on illegal immigration. Trump appointees ignored advice of career lawyers, current employees said. Sessions directly questioned career lawyer Stephen Buckingham, who was asked to file a lawsuit to crack down on sanctuary laws protecting undocumented immigrants. Buckingham could find no legal grounds for such a case, but Sessions asked him to come to a different conclusion. Buckingham resigned a few months later, and Sessions got his lawsuit, most of which a judge dismissed.