More than 1,200 former Justice Department employees ask the Senate to reject Todd Blanche for attorney general

More than 1,200 former Justice Department employees signed a letter sent to the Senate on Monday urging senators to reject Todd Blanche's confirmation as attorney general, nine days before his hearing is scheduled to begin.

The letter was organized by Justice Connection, a group of Justice Department alumni, and addressed to Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) and the panel's ranking Democrat, Dick Durbin (D-Ill.). Justice Connection confirmed the effort in a press release dated July 7. The group said the signers served under both Republican and Democratic administrations.

Blanche has run the department in an acting capacity since April, when Pam Bondi resigned. President Trump nominated him in June to hold the job permanently. The Senate Judiciary Committee has scheduled a two-day confirmation hearing for July 15 and 16, with Blanche set to testify on the first day and an outside witness panel to follow on the second.

What the letter says

The signers accused Blanche of "demonizing career employees, undermining their work, and driving them out of the department." The letter said more than 16,000 people have left the department during his tenure and cited what it called hundreds of unlawful firings. Those figures are the letter's own; BCN could not independently verify them.

The letter also listed the "erasure of accountability for January 6" and the "mishandling of the Epstein files" among its objections. It closed by invoking John Adams:

The culture of fear Blanche has instilled within DOJ's workforce must end. Respect for career professionals must return. And instead of exhibiting fealty to the president, the Attorney General must heed John Adams' admonition that our republic remains a "government of laws, not of men."

The letter was first reported by Scott MacFarlane, described by Mediaite as MeidasTouch's chief Washington correspondent.

The case Blanche's backers make

Blanche's supporters point to his earlier confirmation. The Senate approved him as deputy attorney general in 2025. After meeting with him in June, Grassley said, "I haven't had any negative comments from anybody that voted for him as deputy." Former Attorney General William Barr has publicly called on Senate Republicans to confirm him.

Blanche's ties to Trump are at the center of the dispute. In his Senate questionnaire, he wrote that he left his law firm in 2023 "primarily to represent President Donald Trump," and he defended Trump in the Manhattan case over payments to Stormy Daniels and in the prosecutions led by former special counsel Jack Smith. Democrats have said those ties raise questions about whether he would act independently as the country's top law enforcement officer. His backers say his experience and prior Senate approval qualify him for the post.

The math on the committee

Republicans hold a narrow edge on the Judiciary Committee, and Democrats are expected to oppose Blanche as a bloc, which leaves little room for defections. As of mid-June, two Republicans on the panel, Thom Tillis of North Carolina and John Cornyn of Texas, had not publicly committed to supporting him.

Tillis said then that he was still vetting the nominee and pointed to Blanche's now-withdrawn proposal for a $1.8 billion anti-weaponization fund, which critics said could be used against political opponents. "It'll be an issue if the weaponization fund isn't effectively dead by the confirmation hearing," Tillis said. Susan Collins (R-Maine) said Blanche assured her the proposal "will not exist."

Grassley said he received Blanche's nomination paperwork in mid-June, starting the committee's 28-day clock, and that he expects to move the nomination before the Senate's August recess.