Over the last few months, there have been mass resignations by multiple high-level officials in the Department of Justice (DOJ). With many prosecutors and officials quitting their positions, ongoing investigations have been affected. As a result, the agency has reportedly become lenient toward hiring requirements.
According to a recent article by AlterNet, new applicants for federal prosecutor roles do not need to have prior attorney experience to land the job. Anyone fresh out of college could apply for the role with Donald Trump‘s DOJ.
Paula Reid, CNN Chief Legal Affairs Correspondent, has further reflected on this. “They have redesigned this agency to try to pursue MAGA priorities and, in some cases, pursue the president’s adversaries. And they’ve lost a lot of people in the process. Some people have objected and walked out. Some people have been fired,” she said.
They refused to probe a murder. The people with consciences walked out.
🚨 NEW: At least four leaders of the DOJ Civil Rights Division resigned because the section’s head, Harmeet Dhillon, decided not to investigate shooting of Renee Good. pic.twitter.com/DTTdWkW2WH
— Christopher Webb (@cwebbonline) January 13, 2026
She believed that, as a result, the department is now struggling with deadlines and the quality of its caseload. Reid noted that as the DOJ loosens its hiring requirements, it could further impact the quality of the agency’s work, as fresh college graduates are generally not prepared to handle such a heavy caseload.
“That’s something you don’t hear about with federal prosecutors. These are supposed to be the best of the best, which is part of why most offices have a rule that you need at least three years of experience before you can apply for a role,” said Reid.
She continued, “The [Minnesota Civil Division] office has been inundated with these habeas petitions from folks who have been detained by ICE, a ton of work, a lot of criticism from judges.”
The Justice Department has waived a policy requiring newly hired federal prosecutors to possess at least one year of experience practicing law, as US attorney’s offices struggle to find qualified replacements following mass departures. https://t.co/xBK74wEReg
— Bloomberg Law (@BLaw) March 17, 2026
“As a recovering lawyer myself, that’s a really sophisticated kind of situation to find yourself in with no legal or no courtroom experience. But again, this whole strategy at DOJ [ is because] they want to remake this in Trump’s image. But that has consequences,” Reid noted.
The CNN journalist recalled, “I talked to a lot of officials inside DOJ last year [during the firings]. I said, ‘are you confident you’re going to be able to restock your lawyers here?’ And some of them said, ‘look, we only need a third of the number of lawyers we had before. I’ll find people who will do it faster.’ I think there was a lack of appreciation or respect for federal prosecutors and federal workers in general.”
