Brett Shumate resigned on Monday as head of the Justice Department’s Civil Division, Attorney General Todd Blanche said in a post on X.
Henry Whitaker, acting head of the Office of Legal Counsel, who represented the Justice Department in the prosecution of former FBI Director James Comey, also resigned, the DOJ confirmed on Monday.
The departures of Shumate and Whitaker are the latest in a series announced by the department since the Nov. 3 midterm elections, in which Democrats regained control of both chambers of Congress.
Blanche accepted Shumate’s resignation and credited the division under his leadership with challenging sanctuary policies and winning lawsuits against local policies that Blanche said endangered federal law enforcement officers.
“Inauguration Day was my first day running the Justice Department’s Civil Division and today is my last,” Shumate said in a post on Monday on X. “Thanks to President Trump, AG Bondi, and AG Blanche for trusting me with the Justice Department’s largest litigation component. And thanks to the countless friends and colleagues at the Justice Department and throughout the federal government who helped me along the way.”
Shumate personally defended some of President Donald Trump’s closely watched policies in federal appeals courts.
He argued that Trump had authority under a federal emergency powers law to impose tariffs, a position the Supreme Court ultimately rejected.
He also defended the president’s decision to federalize California National Guard troops during protests in Los Angeles. A federal appeals court sided with the administration and allowed Trump to keep control of the troops while the case proceeded.
A DOJ spokesperson said Whitaker’s departure was not related to the midterm elections.
“Henry arrived in Jan. 2025 and planned to stay for 12 months, he has long been planning to go to the private sector, and the timing has no connection to the midterms,” the DOJ said in an email to The Epoch Times.
Blanche said on Nov. 6 that the U.S. attorney for the Southern District of Florida, Jason Reding Quiñones, and Assistant Attorney General for the National Security Division John Eisenberg were stepping down.
Under Shumate’s leadership, the division reached settlements over corporate diversity, equity, and inclusion practices that the department deemed illegal and shut down dozens of clinics that provided “gender-affirming care” to minors, Blanche said.
Blanche’s statement did not give a reason for Shumate’s resignation or name a successor.
Harmeet Dhillon, a top DOJ official who was head of the Civil Rights Division, said on Nov. 5 that she was resigning from her position. She said she had been asked to wait until after the midterm elections to make the announcement.
Blanche addressed the resignations on Nov. 6 on the Fox News show “The Ingraham Angle.”
He said it wasn’t a cause for concern for the DOJ. Blanche said there were other resignations in his department beyond those three top officials.
“This happens all the time. This happens in any administration,” Blanche said.
He said that working for any administration was a “huge sacrifice.”
“There comes a time when it makes sense for them for their own reasons to move on,” he said.
Even though the top officials resigned from the DOJ, Blanche said they would keep working in some capacity for the cause.
Democrats on the House Judiciary Committee targeted Dhillon in a post on Nov. 5 on X.
They described Tuesday’s election results as a rebuke of the Trump administration and called on Dhillon and other officials to preserve their records and prepare to testify under oath before Congress.
In a statement, the House Judiciary Democrats criticized Dhillon’s leadership of the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division and warned that resigning would not shield administration officials from congressional scrutiny.
A DOJ spokesperson defended Dhillon’s record in an email to The Epoch Times.
“The Division has successfully defended the civil rights of all Americans, from universities to houses of worship, to the workplace,” the DOJ said in the statement. “It has not ‘pushed out’ career staff. To date, the Division has hired 159 lawyers and staff, including 143 lawyers and 16 staff, through a career-led process, and it is on pace to hire more. We thank Harmeet Dhillon for her service and leadership.”
We had a problem loading this article. Please enable javascript or use a different browser. If the issue persists, please visit our help center.