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The top lawyer in the Justice Department’s Civil Division resigned on Monday, marking the latest in a wave of departures since Democrats won back control of both the House and Senate in the midterm elections.
Brett Shumate, the assistant attorney general of the Civil Division, tendered his resignation on Monday, leaving behind a division that has been struggling to keep pace as it defends the federal government in a flurry of lawsuits since President Trump took office.
Attorney General Todd Blanche, in a statement on X, praised Shumate for pursuing “important affirmative litigation to challenge sanctuary policies” and for “delivering key wins in lawsuits against local policies that endangered federal law enforcement.”
Last week, the assistant attorneys general for the Justice Department’s national security and civil rights divisions also departed, leaving those key offices without Senate-confirmed leadership as well. The U.S. Attorney in the Southern District of Florida who was overseeing the so-called “grand conspiracy” investigation into Obama and Biden-era intelligence officials also departed last week.
Blanche said Tuesday that Craig Trainor will serve as acting assistant attorney general for the Civil Rights Division. He currently serves in a Senate-confirmed leadership role at the Department of Housing and Urban Development.
T. Elliot Gaiser, the assistant attorney general for the DOJ’s Office of Legal Counsel, meanwhile, is being considered by Mr. Trump to be nominated to serve as a judge for the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Texas, according to a Senate aide, who confirmed that the Justice Department had submitted his nomination paperwork. The Office of Legal Counsel offers legal advice to the executive branch, issuing opinions on thorny legal questions.
Gaiser has authored controversial legal opinions such as the classified legal justification for the U.S. military’s boat strikes targeting suspected drug traffickers. He does not appear to have any direct ties to Texas, apart from a one-year clerkship in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit.
Shumate, a former partner at the law firm Jones Day, was widely seen by attorneys in the Civil Division as a reasonable and “decent” leader at a time when chaos has descended on the Justice Department, forcing it to adopt often novel or controversial legal positions to defend the government from hundreds of lawsuits.
He also served in the Civil Division during Mr. Trump’s first term in office.
Under Shumate’s leadership, the department has fought to defend countless firings of career civil servants, many of whom received no explanation other than a letter citing Article II of the U.S. Constitution.
It has also defended controversial and aggressive mass deportation policies, as well as a number of controversial renovation projects that Mr. Trump has personally directed, including efforts to tear down the White House’s East Wing and replace it with a ballroom, and overhauls of the Kennedy Center and the East Potomac Golf Course.
The Civil Division has also had to contend with a flood of habeas corpus petitions this year from detained immigrants, after a Justice Department-run immigration court made a sweeping determination that the government could essentially detain a large swath of immigrants indefinitely while their removal proceedings are pending.
Lawyers in the Civil Division were taken by surprise by the abrupt and unexpected nature of Shumate’s resignation, which was effective immediately, sources told CBS News.
His departure comes after Stephen Miller late last week was named as White House chief of staff, replacing Susie Wiles.
One source familiar with the matter told CBS News that Miller has been critical of Shumate in the past and believes he is not aggressive enough, and this was a factor in Shumate’s decision to step down.
