Fourth DOJ official quits in a week after GOP's midterm drubbing

Brett Shumate is out. The head of the Justice Department's Civil Division resigned, making him the fourth senior DOJ official to walk out since Republicans got hammered in last week's midterm elections.

Attorney General Todd Blanche broke the news Monday in a post on X, running through the division's litigation record under Shumate: challenges to sanctuary policies, settlements aimed at ending corporate DEI practices, and the shuttering of dozens of clinics that provided what Blanche called 'gender affirming care' to minors. No reason was given for the resignation.

Shumate is no newcomer — he worked in the Justice Department during Trump's first term. In his latest stint he ran a division that also went after naturalized immigrants' citizenship and local governments that refused to help with immigration enforcement. The Civil Division's core job is defending the administration's policies in court, and it has shed personnel heavily since Trump's re-election two years ago, especially in the unit that argues those cases.

He's the fourth domino. Civil Rights Division chief Harmeet Dhillon, National Security Division head John Eisenberg and South Florida U.S. Attorney Jason Reding Quiñones — who was tied to inquiries into earlier criminal probes involving Trump — all left before him.

The exits leave a timing problem: it's unclear whether the administration can push permanent, Senate-confirmed replacements through before Republicans hand over the Senate in January. With staffing thin, the division recently dangled signing bonuses of up to $25,000 to pull in new lawyers.