Plaintiffs call out Trump's defense of citizenship order
President Donald Trump speaks after signing an executive order in the Oval Office of the White House, Monday, Feb. 3, 2025, in Washington. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)

President Donald Trump signed an executive order in the Oval Office of the White House on Feb. 3, 2025, in Washington.

Donald Trump’s administration has made significant staff cuts across various federal agencies, particularly noticeable within the U.S. Department of Justice.

More than twelve United States Attorneys have been ousted, with potentially hundreds of legal professionals and investigators who were involved in cases related to the January 6 events and Trump’s legal matters facing potential dismissal.

But apart from the removal of experienced and professional attorneys is what appears to be a radical transformation of the Department’s longtime guiding ethos. To many observers, the Justice Department has become under Trump’s regime a terrifying weapon to accuse and prosecute Trump’s enemies and protect his friends. To these observers, “Justice” now means “Trump justice,” not the way justice is defined in the Justice Department’s manual as dependent on the rule of law, an evenhanded approach to the administration of justice, and the requirement that legal judgments be made impartially and insulated from political influence.

So, the big question for defense lawyers is whether — and to what extent — prosecuting federal criminal cases may be different.

For as long as we can remember, most criminal defense lawyers believed they were dealing with fair-minded and nonpolitical federal prosecutors. Lawyers strategized to try to persuade prosecutors that the potential charges were weak on the merits; that the government could not sustain its burden of proof; that a key witness wouldn’t hold up; that the trial jury would be unimpressed with the evidence; that the jury wouldn’t be “outraged” by what would be presented to it; that there was some sympathetic fact about the defendant that might encourage the jury to acquit; or that there was some “nullifying” fact about the case or the victim’s motivations that would undermine the prosecution’s theory.

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