March 20, 2025

DOJ line prosecutors resign citing Model Rules of Professional Conduct

Career prosecutors choose ethics over orders in largest Justice Department protest ever

📜Constitutional Law⚖️Justice

By 2025-03-20, over 200 federal prosecutors had resigned or requested transfers rather than implement orders they considered illegal or unethical, marking the largest protest in Justice Department history (Wikipedia event page)

On 2025-02-13, five prosecutors in the DOJ’s Public Integrity Section resigned instead of dismissing a public-corruption case involving alleged bribery by New York City Mayor Adams (Wikipedia event page; Reuters)

Resigning attorneys invoked ABA Model Rule 5.2, which permits subordinate lawyers to refuse assignments that violate law or ethical duties (American Bar Association)

📜Constitutional Law⚖️Justice

Test Your Knowledge

The prosecutors worked in DOJ"s Public Integrity Section.

Their case involved alleged bribery by which elected official?

Who was Acting Assistant AG for the Criminal Division who also quit that day?

How many DOJ prosecutors resigned on Feb 13 2025 rather than dismiss a public-corruption case?

Resigning attorneys cited which rule of professional conduct requiring independence from improper influence?

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People, bills, and sources

Kevin Driscoll (Acting Assistant Attorney General for the Criminal Division)

resigned on 2025-02-13 in protest of political interference (Talking Points Memo)

Judge Dale Ho (U.S. District Judge, Southern District of New York)

dismissed the public-corruption indictment with prejudice, citing undermining of equal justice (France 24)

What you can do

Review ABA Model Rule 5.2 at https://www.americanbar.org/groups/professional_responsibility/publications/model_rules_of_professional_conduct/rule_5_2_responsibilities_of_a_subordinate_lawyer/ to understand how subordinate lawyers may refuse unlawful or unethical orders

Read 28 U.S.C. § 530B at https://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/28/530B to learn how federal prosecutors’ professional judgment is protected by state ethics rules

Download the open letter signed by over 900 former federal prosecutors at https://storage.courtlistener.com/open-letter-prosecutors-021825.pdf to examine their appeal to DOJ staff to uphold the rule of law