A staffing crisis is unfolding inside the U.S. Department of Justice, which has long relied on its army of attorneys and agents to combat organized crime, child pornographers and terrorists.

A mass exodus of thousands is unfolding inside agency offices and operations. But it’s happening quietly and largely behind closed doors.

A keen observer will spot the clues, though.

A February 19thcourt filing in New Orleans, in an obscure civil lawsuit against the Internal Revenue Service, a Justice Department attorney revealed a big problem. The attorney asked for a one-month delay in the case. She wrote, “The Appellate Section has lost over 40% of its attorneys since February 2025, due to retirement, resignation, or temporary transfer. Therefore, at this time, it is not possible for me to assign this case to yet another attorney, who would need to devote time to learning the issues.”

A few weeks earlier, a federal attorney detailed to the Justice Department appeared to reach a workload breaking point. Before quitting her post, Julie Le reportedly told a judge that her job “sucks” and asked to be held in contempt by the court so she “could get 24 hours of sleep.”

A new report released by Justice Connection, an organization of former Justice Departrment employees, showed the number of attorneys who have left the agency since January has topped 3,400.

Justice Connection executive director Stacey Young, who resigned in Janaury 2025 after an 18-year career with the agency, told Meidas Touch Network, “That’s about a quarter of lawyers inside the department. That’s a very serious issue and it’s affecting the ability of the department to do its work.”

Young said, “Unless there is a course correction, it’s going to get much worse.” Young said it is challenging for the agency to find replacements or applicants.

In a newly-published report, Justice Connection emphasized, “This is not normal.” The report said, ‘DOJ had 12,955 attorneys as of December 31, 2024. Approximately 3,402 attorneys left their roles between January 2025 and January 2026.”

The turnover includes politically-motivated firings of prosecutors who handled the criminal investigations of President Trump and the successful prosecutions of the hundreds of Trump supporters who attacked the Capitol on January 6, 2021.

Source: Drudge Report