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Rule of law

DOJ Mass Firings: Nullifying the Civil Service

Executed
Case Dossier FED-CIV-001
STATUS
Executed
SEVERITY
Critical
DATE
2025-07-15
DOMAIN
Rule of Law
SUBDOMAIN
Civil Service
CAPTURE VECTOR
Institutional decapitation
TAGS
doj civil-service purge schedule-f whistleblowers pam-bondi unitary-executive
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Asserting a blanket constitutional authority to fire career civil servants 'without cause,' the Justice Department executes a targeted purge of ethics advisers, prosecutors who worked on cases against the President, and whistleblowers refusing political orders.

Summary

In July 2025, Attorney General Pam Bondi accelerated a wave of firings targeting career Department of Justice employees. The purge explicitly targeted institutional guardrails and perceived enemies:

  • The Guardrails: Joseph W. Tirrell, the AG’s own ethics adviser, was fired without cause.
  • The Retribution: Prosecutors and support staff who had previously worked for Special Counsel Jack Smith were dismissed.
  • The Whistleblowers: Elizabeth G. Oyer, the pardon attorney, was fired after refusing to facilitate a pardon for a presidential ally (Mel Gibson).

Capture Mechanism: Constitutional Absolutism

The regime is not merely firing individuals; it is establishing a new legal doctrine to dismantle the civil service.

  • The Argument: Dismissal letters (some containing typos) cited no specific cause, asserting instead that the Constitution grants the President absolute authority to fire any executive branch employee. This argument seeks to bypass the Merit Systems Protection Board (MSPB) and decades of case law protecting non-political staff.
  • The Goal: As noted by ousted pardon attorney Elizabeth Oyer, the objective is to “install political puppets in place of nonpartisan experts,” transforming the DOJ from an independent arbiter of law into an instrument of “revenge agenda.”

The Oyer Case: Retaliation Disguised

The case of Elizabeth Oyer illustrates the capture of the pardon power. Oyer was fired after resisting the administration’s push to restore gun rights to Mel Gibson. While Deputy AG Todd Blanche publicly called her account “false,” DOJ lawyers later admitted in court filings that the facts were “not in dispute,” arguing instead that the firing was a “purely legal” exercise of presidential power. She was replaced by Ed Martin, a loyalist who has vowed to “name and shame” political enemies.

Analysis

This represents the Nullification of the Civil Service. By claiming that constitutional executive authority supersedes civil service statutes, the administration is effectively implementing “Schedule F” by fiat. This removes the structural insulation that prevents the DOJ from becoming a personal law firm for the President and a weapon against his rivals.