Over 10,000 Federal Lawyers Quit Since Trump Reelection

Over 10,000 lawyers abandoned federal jobs since Trump was reelected in late 2024, with about 17% of federal lawyers leaving by March 2026. The Justice Department and other agencies experienced massive departures as some resigned rather than implement Trump's policies. Trump celebrated the exodus in a Truth Social post on June 1, 2026, calling them deep state operatives, while federal hiring remained drastically lower than departures.

Federal lawyer exodus

• ▪About 17% of lawyers who were working for the federal government at the end of 2024 had left their positions by March 2026
• ▪Federal government hiring levels of lawyers were drastically lower than the amount of departures as of March 2026
• ▪Some federal lawyers resigned rather than help carry out Donald Trump's policies
• ▪Over 10,000 lawyers abandoned their federal jobs since Donald Trump was reelected in late 2024
• ▪The New York Times published a deep dive into the flight of federal lawyers

Trump's response

• ▪Donald Trump claimed the lawyers leaving federal jobs are Radical Left Deep State Lunatics who are destroying the country and weaponizing government
• ▪Donald Trump was reelected in late 2024
• ▪Donald Trump celebrated the departure of over 10,000 federal lawyers as a victory against the so-called deep state in a Truth Social post on June 1, 2026
• ▪Donald Trump stated that many of the departing federal lawyers did not leave but were fired

Recruitment challenges

• ▪Federal legal work was formerly the gold standard for lawyers seeking roles in public service
• ▪The Trump government's reputation as ethically questionable and notoriously unstable has had a chilling effect on recruiting early-career lawyers into working for the federal government

Reputational damage

• ▪Some people have explicitly stated they would see a person willing to go to work at the Department of Justice during the Trump administration as somebody they could not trust
• ▪Andrew Mergen stated that people have told him they would look down on a person if they had a federal job on their résumé that they started during the Trump administration
• ▪Andrew Mergen is the director of the Emmett Environmental Law and Policy Clinic at Harvard Law School

Perspective of Donald Trump

• ▪Donald Trump claimed the lawyers leaving federal jobs are Radical Left Deep State Lunatics who are destroying the country and weaponizing government
• ▪Donald Trump celebrated the departure of over 10,000 federal lawyers as a victory against the so-called deep state in a Truth Social post on June 1, 2026

Perspective of Legal community and early-career lawyers

• ▪Some people have explicitly stated they would see a person willing to go to work at the Department of Justice during the Trump administration as somebody they could not trust
• ▪Andrew Mergen stated that people have told him they would look down on a person if they had a federal job on their résumé that they started during the Trump administration