The Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division is in upheaval amid a mass exodus of attorneys as the Trump administration moves to radically reshape the division, shelving its traditional mission and replacing it with one focused on enforcing the president’s executive orders.
Some 250 attorneys — or around 70% of the division’s lawyers — have left or will have left the department in the time between President Trump’s inauguration and the end of May, according to current and former officials.
It marks a dramatic turn for the storied division, which was created during the civil rights movement and the push to end racial segregation. For almost 70 years, it has sought to combat discrimination and to protect the constitutional rights of all Americans in everything from voting and housing to employment, education and policing.
Yet another mission accomplished for Trump and his administration then… I genuinely wonder if 100 years will be enough to fix everything they fucked up - probably not.
We’re looking at the US being an authoritarian state. Trump’s just the first. It might get better after an armed revolution, but would likely end up as more of the same wearing different colors. After all, we won’t have the US to install a pro-democracy leader.
This was exactly how it was in the US until the 1883 Pendleton Act, which created the civil service. It was called the spoils system (as in “to the victor go the spoils”). Nominees were primarily awarded their positions out of loyalty or patronage than merit.
The 19th century sucked in a lot of ways, and government corruption and economic incompetence was a part of that. Welcome to the 19th century.
