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Law Students Hit by Hiring Freeze
For Justice Dept. Honors Program
A Trump administration hiring freeze hit home last week for law students at Georgetown University and the University of Virginia.
For more than 60 years, the Justice Department has hired graduates from top law schools through its Attorney General’s Honors Program to work in entry-level positions.
It is one of the department’s main recruiting programs. More than 100 lawyers were hired by the Justice Department through the Honors Program in some years.
It was canceled by a short email last week to the new recruits that said, “Pursuant to the hiring freeze announced Jan. 20, 2025, your job offer has been revoked.”
The new lawyers are typically hired for two-year stints to work in antitrust, national security and criminal law. They often are offered permanent positions after the two-year terms.
They were interviewed and offered their positions during the Biden administration. In addition to Georgetown and the University of Virginia, law students from Harvard, Duke, Berkeley and Stanford are disproportionately represented in the program.
“We appreciate your interest in employment in the Department of Justice,” the memo last week said.
The Justice Department’s website describes the Honors Program by saying, “Since 1953, the Attorney General’s Honors Program has been recognized as the nation’s premier entry-level federal attorney recruitment program.”
The Honors Program hiring freeze appears to be part of a wider effort by the Trump administration and its Department of Government Efficiency to drastically cut government spending, particularly the federal payroll.
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Congressional Report Says U.S. Vulnerable
To Increasing Muslim Extremist Terrorism
The United States is unprepared to counter a rising number of terrorist threats, according to a congressional report released last week.
The committee’s “Terror Threat Snapshot” focuses primarily on Muslim extremist groups, such as ISIS and al Qaeda.
The report documents more than 50 cases in the United States over the past four years of Muslim extremists appearing to prepare for terrorist attacks. Most of them were stopped by law enforcement personnel.
One of them that was not stopped was the New Year’s Day attack in New Orleans that killed 14 people and injured 57.
Islamic State-inspired Shamsud-Din Jabbar drove a pickup truck into a crowd along Bourbon Street. As he exited his truck, he was killed in a shootout with police.
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Trump Administration Tries to Halt Decrees
Over Alleged Police Civil Rights Violations
The Trump administration is trying to halt consent agreements the Justice Department reached in recent years with police departments accused of civil rights violations.
The consent agreements under the Biden administration were intended to institute reforms to avoid abuses by police.
A Justice Department memo last week says, “The new administration may wish to reconsider settlements and consent decrees negotiated and approved by the prior administration.”
The two most high profile agreements were reached with police in Minneapolis and Louisville, where officers were accused of killing people despite minimal provocation to justify their actions.
Consent agreements, also known as consent decrees, are legally-enforceable agreements to resolve disputes between two parties without admitting guilt or liability.
Power the Civil Rights Work of Our Time
Each day members of our community are experiencing wage theft, the effects of gentrification, discriminatory policing, collateral consequences, marginalization in schools, and barriers to public accommodations.
We fight alongside people facing the effects of gentrification like Amira Moore. Our work empowers the people and communities who need it most, “We can do more than we think. There’s a path to equity, we just have to step to it.” –Ms. Moore
For more than 50 years, the Washington Lawyers’ Committee has been on the frontlines of the fight for civil rights in our community. We deploy the best legal talent, we tackle the tough cases, we fight, and we win.
Our work is as important today as it has ever been. Through your support, you can play a role in creating justice for thousands of marginalized members of our community. Together, we will dismantle injustice and pursue lasting change.
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Letters to the Editor
D.C. in Brief
Missouri Lawyer Ed Martin Appointed
As Interim U.S. Attorney for D.C.
Missouri lawyer Edward R. Martin Jr. was named last week as the interim U.S. attorney for the District of Columbia.
He is best known for representing clients facing charges for the Jan. 6, 2021 riot at the Capitol and for helping to organize a “Stop the Steal” movement in support of Donald Trump’s efforts to overturn Joe Biden’s 2020 election victory.
On his first day on the job last week, he filed motions to release imprisoned Jan. 6 defendants who received pardons or commuted sentences from Trump.
Martin, 54, also is known as a staunch abortion opponent. He has spoken in favor of a national abortion ban that would grant no exceptions for rape or incest, as well as jail terms for women and doctors who participate in abortions.
He is the former head of the Missouri Republican Party and served as deputy policy director for the Republican National Convention’s platform committee last summer.
Although Martin lists no work as a prosecutor on his LinkedIn page and other biographical information, he will serve at least temporarily as the top prosecutor in Washington, D.C.
As a defense attorney, he previously represented three men charged and convicted of assaulting police officers at the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, court records show. On Jan. 6, 2021, he posted on social media that he was at the Capitol and said it reminded him of "Mardi Gras in DC today: love, faith and joy."
His appointment could become permanent unless Trump nominates someone else who receives Senate confirmation.
In Virginia, Trump appointed longtime assistant federal prosecutor and former D.C. police officer Erik S. Siebert as the U.S. attorney.
Trump’s Orders Arouse Opposition
From Judges and Advocacy Groups
Opposition to President Donald Trump's sweeping executive orders last week is showing up in a fast-growing number of lawsuits and judicial denunciations.
Three federal judges in Washington, D.C., issued rulings that said Trump's pardons of Jan. 6 rioters furthered the injustice they created by breaking into the Capitol.
They also said it created a dangerous precedent likely to lead to more civil disobedience.
A different federal judge blocked Trump's order overturning birthright citizenship.
Meanwhile, labor unions, Democratic state attorneys general and government watchdogs are suing to try to stop executive orders on immigrant rights, federal workforce policy and environmental regulations.
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Legal Briefs
We Could Use Your Help
Thousands of DC residents need a lawyer, but can’t afford one. They could be illegally evicted from their homes, lose custody of their children, experience domestic violence, and more, all because they lack legal representation.
You could make a difference. By making a donation to the Legal Aid Society of the District of Columbia, you will provide free, high-quality, zealous legal representation to low-income DC residents.
Your support could prevent homelessness, domestic violence, hunger, or family separation. In fact, if just 10 people who see this ad give $28 to Legal Aid, it will be enough to staff an experienced attorney at the courthouse for a day.
That way, DC residents like Keith King (pictured above) can get the legal representation they need to win their cases. As Mr. King put it, if it wasn’t for his Legal Aid lawyer, “I would have been homeless again.”
Here is the link to the Legal Aid website for donations: https://www.legalaiddc.org/donate-to-legal-aid/
For more information, contact Rob Pergament at Legal Aid at rpergament@legalaiddc.org