Brett Shumate, who for a time steered the Justice Department's Civil Division through the defense of a government facing hundreds of lawsuits, has stepped away without warning, a quiet exit that reads as one more ripple in a long season of departures after the midterm elections shifted the balance of Congress. His going arrives in the same week that a new chief of staff, Stephen Miller, took his post at the White House, and one source suggests the change in leadership's temper weighed on his decision. Whether the department's posture toward its own lawyers and its defense of contested policies
Top DOJ Civil Division Lawyer Brett Shumate Resigns Amid Wave of Departures
Resigned abruptly, effective immediately, leaving the government's defense team
Mark
Why does one resignation in the Civil Division matter so much?
Mimi
Because that division is the government's defense team. Hundreds of lawsuits are pending, and it was already struggling to keep up. Losing its leader with no notice makes that harder.
Mark
And it's not alone.
Luke
Right, but let's be careful. The story says assistant attorneys general for two other divisions left last week, and Gaiser may be nominated to a judgeship. Those are different situations, and the piece doesn't say they're coordinated.
Mimi
Fair. What it does establish is that several offices are now without Senate-confirmed leaders. Trainor is acting at Civil Rights.
Mark
What about the Stephen Miller angle?
Luke
That's one source, unnamed, saying Miller thought Shumate wasn't aggressive enough and that it was a factor. It's plausible and the timing fits, but it's not confirmed on the record. Blanche's statement only praised Shumate.
Mimi
And the praise is specific: sanctuary-policy litigation and wins against local policies.
Mark
What was Shumate's reputation inside the division?
Mimi
Lawyers there saw him as reasonable and decent, in the middle of a lot of controversial defenses, including the firings and the East Wing demolition.
Luke
Worth noting that's how attorneys in the division saw him. It doesn't tell us why he left, and we still don't know who replaces him.
Mark
So the open question is succession.
Mimi
Yes. Acting appointments or nominations, and what kind of leader gets chosen.
O Pulso
- The Civil Division, which defends the federal government in hundreds of lawsuits, lost its head abruptly, catching its own attorneys off guard.
- A single source says White House chief of staff Stephen Miller judged Shumate not aggressive enough, placing a personal and political tension at the center of the exit.
- Two other division heads also departed last week, leaving the Civil Rights and other offices without Senate-confirmed leaders.
- Craig Trainor has been tapped to act for Civil Rights while his own Senate-confirmed post at HUD continues, a stopgap that signals how thinly the department is stretched.
- Attention now turns to whether nominations or acting appointments will steady divisions that are already buckling under caseloads from detained immigrants and contested firings.
Brett Shumate, who for a time steered the Justice Department's Civil Division through the defense of a government facing hundreds of lawsuits, has stepped away without warning, a quiet exit that reads as one more ripple in a long season of departures after the midterm elections shifted the balance of Congress. His going arrives in the same week that a new chief of staff, Stephen Miller, took his post at the White House, and one source suggests the change in leadership's temper weighed on his decision. Whether the department's posture toward its own lawyers and its defense of contested policies will change with the people who now fill these chairs remains an open question.
Brett Shumate, the assistant attorney general who ran the Justice Department's Civil Division, resigned on Monday, effective immediately. His departure is the latest in a string of exits since Democrats regained both the House and the Senate in the midterm elections, and the people inside his division were surprised by how suddenly it happened.
The Civil Division defends the government in court, and under Shumate it carried a heavy load: a long list of firings of career civil servants, aggressive mass deportation policies, and several building projects President Trump has pushed personally, including the East Wing demolition and changes to the Kennedy Center and a golf course. A surge of cases from detained immigrants added more pressure after an immigration court ruling allowed the government to hold many people indefinitely. Attorney General Todd Blanche praised Shumate's work against sanctuary policies, while attorneys who worked with him described him as a reasonable and decent leader in a difficult time.
The timing matters. Stephen Miller was just named White House chief of staff, and one source says Miller had criticized Shumate as not aggressive enough and that this played a part in his decision. That account rests on a single source.
The department now has several divisions without Senate-confirmed leaders. Craig Trainor will act for Civil Rights while keeping his HUD post. Separately, T. Elliot Gaiser, who heads the Office of Legal Counsel, is being considered for a federal judgeship in Texas, though he has little apparent connection to the state. What comes next is who leads the Civil Division and who fills the other empty seats.
Brett Shumate, the assistant attorney general who ran the Justice Department's Civil Division, resigned on Monday, effective immediately. His exit is the latest in a string of departures from the department since Democrats won back both the House and the Senate in the midterm elections.
Shumate led the division that defends the federal government in court, and it has been struggling to keep pace with the volume of lawsuits filed since President Trump took office. The department now faces hundreds of such cases. Attorney General Todd Blanche praised Shumate in a statement on X, crediting him with pursuing "important affirmative litigation to challenge sanctuary policies" and with delivering key wins in suits against local policies that, in Blanche's words, endangered federal law enforcement.
Lawyers inside the Civil Division were caught off guard, sources told CBS News. The resignation was abrupt and unexpected. Shumate, a former partner at Jones Day, had also served in the division during Mr. Trump's first term. Attorneys in the division widely regarded him as a reasonable and "decent" leader during a period of upheaval at the department, one that has pushed it to adopt novel or controversial legal positions to defend the government.
Under his leadership, the division defended a long list of firings of career civil servants, many of whom were given no explanation beyond a letter citing Article II of the Constitution. It also defended aggressive mass deportation policies and several renovation projects Mr. Trump has directed personally: tearing down the White House's East Wing to make room for a ballroom, and overhauls of the Kennedy Center and the East Potomac Golf Course. The division also had to contend with a surge of cases this year from detained immigrants, after a Justice Department-run immigration court ruled that the government could hold a large swath of immigrants indefinitely while their removal proceedings are pending.
The timing follows a change at the White House. Late last week, Stephen Miller was named chief of staff, replacing Susie Wiles. One source familiar with the matter told CBS News that Miller has criticized Shumate in the past, believes he was not aggressive enough, and that this was a factor in Shumate's decision to step down. That account comes from a single source.
Shumate is not the only senior departure. Last week, the assistant attorneys general for two other Justice Department divisions also left, leaving those offices without Senate-confirmed leadership as well. On Tuesday, Blanche said Craig Trainor will serve as acting assistant attorney general for the Civil Rights Division. Trainor currently holds a Senate-confirmed leadership role at the Department of Housing and Urban Development.
Separately, T. Elliot Gaiser, who heads the Office of Legal Counsel, is being considered by Mr. Trump for a seat as a judge on the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Texas. A Senate aide confirmed that the Justice Department had submitted his nomination paperwork. The office he leads advises the executive branch and issues opinions on difficult legal questions. Gaiser wrote the classified legal justification for the military's boat strikes on suspected drug traffickers, among other controversial opinions. He does not appear to have direct ties to Texas beyond a one-year clerkship at the Fifth Circuit.
What to watch next: who is named to lead the Civil Division, and who fills the other vacant posts, whether on an acting basis or through Senate-confirmed nominations.
Citações Notáveis
Shumate pursued "important affirmative litigation to challenge sanctuary policies."— Attorney General Todd Blanche, on X
Miller has been critical of Shumate and believes he is not aggressive enough, which factored into the resignation.— Source familiar with the matter, to CBS News
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