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Justice Connection is a nonpartisan, nonprofit advocacy organization supporting civil servants at the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ). It connects DOJ employees with legal, employment, cybersecurity, media, and mental health services. It also defends DOJ's career workforce against political attacks in the press, before Congress, and in the public square.

It was created by DOJ alumni in January 2025, during the second presidency of Donald Trump.

History

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Justice Connection was founded on Jan. 31, 2025, by Stacey Young, an 18-year veteran of the DOJ who resigned from the department a week earlier. Young was the founder and president of the DOJ Gender Equality Network,[1] in addition to serving as a senior attorney in the Civil Division and later in the Civil Rights Division.[2]

Justice Connection was established to support current and recent DOJ employees. A New York Times profile published the day of its launch said it planned to "provide guidance to remaining Justice Department employees on legal issues, whistle-blowing, leaking to the news media, aiding with digital and physical security and, if they resign, finding jobs in the private sector."[3]

Although its focus is on Justice Department employees, Young has said she intends to expand the organization to support employees in other federal agencies as well.[3]

In February 2025, Justice Connection organized an open letter signed by more than 1,200 former federal prosecutors to show support for DOJ attorneys following the Trump administration's pressure on Southern District of New York and Public Integrity Section lawyers to dismiss the corruption charges against New York City Mayor Eric Adams.[4] Signatories included many renowned DOJ alumni, including Jack Smith and Watergate prosecutors.

Organization Structure and Leadership

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Stacey Young serves as the executive director.[2]

Justice Connection has an advisory committee comprised of DOJ alumni, including former acting Director of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) Regina Lombardo, former U.S. Attorney for the District of Nevada Greg Brower, and former Commissioner on the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) Jocelyn Samuels.[2] Other members of the committee include a retired immigration judge, a former FBI special agent, and former senior attorneys from DOJ's Civil Division, Civil Rights Division, and Environment and Natural Resources Division.

Positions

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Justice Connection has issued statements opposing the second Trump administration's efforts to overhaul the Justice Department.

On Jan. 27, 2025, DOJ Acting Deputy Attorney General Emil Bove replaced a senior career ethics official with political appointees. Young told Bloomberg Law that "Transferring the authority over ethics and employee discipline from a career stalwart like Brad Weinsheimer to partisan loyalists could further expose employees to political retribution, and exacerbate the culture of fear at the Department. This move should outrage anyone concerned about the rule of law."[5]

On March 22, 2025, former director of the Justice Department's Office for Victims of Crime and member of Justice Connection's alumni network Kristina Rose issued a statement through Justice Connection criticizing the DOJ's efforts to release Jeffrey Epstein case files without fully redacting victim and witness information. "The Justice Department has a solemn responsibility to protect the private information of crime victims and witnesses. Failing to do so can cause unnecessary trauma and anguish, and compromise victim safety—even the tiniest amount of personal information can be easily traced back to them," said Rose.[6]

On March 27, 2025, Justice Connection launched a TV ad on Fox News criticizing the Trump administration's firing of national security officials and proposal to combine ATF and the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA).[7] According to the Washington Post, after the ad was posted on YouTube, YouTube took down the video and Justice Connection's channel claiming it violated the company's misinformation policy.[8] Although Justice Connection appealed, the video was restored only after a Washington Post reporter contacted YouTube, with a company spokesperson saying the "channel was mistakenly terminated."[8]

After Erez Reuveni, a senior career attorney in the DOJ's Office of Immigration Litigation, was placed on administrative leave seemingly for admitting in court that Kilmar Abrego-Garcia "should not have been removed to El Salvador," Justice Connection heralded Reuveni's commitment to his ethical responsibilities.[9] Young said in a statement that Reuveni "zealously represented the United States in some of the most high-stakes and controversial immigration cases under the Obama, Trump, and Biden administrations."[9]

In late April 2025, Civil Rights Division Assistant Attorney General Harmeet Dhillon issued new mission statements for the division's sections and reassigned section chiefs to unrelated offices.[10] These actions prompted a mass "exodus" with the division losing approximately 70% of its attorneys.[11] The recast mission statements prioritize preventing transgender athletes from participating in sports, investigating voter fraud, and pursuing cases involving antisemitism and anti-Christian bias—a departure from the Civil Rights Division's traditional mission of enforcing federal civil rights laws mandates that apply to all Americans.[12]

Young told The New York Times  that "With the reckless dismantling of the division, we'll see unchecked discrimination and constitutional violations in schools, housing, employment, voting, prisons, by police departments and in many other realms of our daily lives."[13]

Justice Connection also criticized the administration for canceling $800 million in grants to support programs that, among other goals, reduce crime, help victims, and train law enforcement officers.[14] "This administration can't claim to care about things like supporting crime victims, curbing gun violence, and reducing opioid deaths while slashing grants to entities that do the hard work to achieve these goals," Young told CBS News.[15]

On May 14, 2025, former federal prosecutor Jay Bratt, who led the investigation into President Trump's retention of classified documents after his first term in office, declined to answer questions during a deposition in front of the House Judiciary Committee. A Justice Connection spokesperson told The Guardian that "This administration and its proxies have made no effort to hide their willingness to weaponize the machinery of government against those they perceive as political enemies. That should alarm every American who believes in the rule of law. In light of these undeniable and deeply troubling circumstances, Mr. Bratt had no choice but to invoke his fifth amendment rights."[16]

See also

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References

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  1. ^ "DOJ Gender Equality Network". DOJ Gender Equality Network. 2025-01-17. Retrieved 2025-08-05.
  2. ^ a b c "Who We Are". Justice Connection. Retrieved 2025-08-05.
  3. ^ a b "New Group Aims to Help Justice Dept. Employees Alarmed by Trump". 2025-01-31. Retrieved 2025-08-05.
  4. ^ "Open Letter to Federal Prosecutors" (PDF). Justice Connection. Feb 17, 2025.
  5. ^ "Trump DOJ Assigns Sensitive Ethics Powers to Political Aides (1)". 2025-02-16. Archived from the original on 2025-07-20. Retrieved 2025-08-05.
  6. ^ "DOJ's Possible Exposure of Victim & Witness Identities". Justice Connection. Retrieved 2025-08-05.
  7. ^ "Justice Connection Launches Ad Campaign". Justice Connection. Retrieved 2025-08-05.
  8. ^ a b Wemple, Erik (April 10, 2025). "YouTube admits error in 'misinformation' removal of Trump watchdog group". Washington Post.
  9. ^ a b "Judge says deportation of Maryland man to an El Salvador prison was 'wholly lawless'". AP News. 2025-04-06. Retrieved 2025-08-05.
  10. ^ "Trump upends DOJ's Civil Rights Division, sparking 'bloodbath' in senior ranks". NBC News. 2025-04-23. Retrieved 2025-08-05.
  11. ^ Levine, Sam (2025-05-01). "Justice department civil rights division loses 70% of lawyers under Trump". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 2025-08-05.
  12. ^ Beitsch, Rebecca (2025-04-28). "Critics see 'monumental shift' in Trump remaking of DOJ civil rights division". The Hill. Archived from the original on 2025-05-03. Retrieved 2025-08-05.
  13. ^ "Trump Recasts Mission of Justice Dept.'s Civil Rights Office, Prompting 'Exodus'". 2025-04-28. Retrieved 2025-08-05.
  14. ^ "Layoffs, closures and gaps in oversight expected after hundreds of DOJ grants are canceled". AP News. 2025-04-29. Retrieved 2025-08-05.
  15. ^ "Crime victims groups stripped of federal grant awards by Trump administration - CBS News". www.cbsnews.com. 2025-04-24. Retrieved 2025-08-05.
  16. ^ Stein, Chris (2025-05-14). "Mar-a-Lago special prosecutor takes the fifth at 'weaponized' House committee". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 2025-08-05.