Inside the Justice Dept. "rubber room," where veteran lawyers do jigsaw puzzles and stream shows to pass time

CBSNews ^ | 6/11/25 | Daniel Klaidman, Jacob Rosen

[CFW]

When the Trump administration swept into the Department of Justice on Jan. 20, it moved swiftly to purge, demote, transfer and otherwise sideline career lawyers not perceived to be team players or sufficiently committed to the MAGA legal agenda.

[snip]

Inside, nearly a dozen of the government's most seasoned civil rights, environmental and national security lawyers have been reconstituted as members of a newly created group called the Sanctuary Cities task force.

At first glance, the job seemed promising — a legal strike team that would sue municipalities the administration claimed were facilitating the violation of immigration laws, a task force undertaking a top priority for the new Justice Department leadership.

But the more these attorneys looked into it, the more they concluded the task force was a sham, a Potemkin operation that seemed more aimed at stashing away career lawyers than putting them to work on a legitimate legal project, according to interviews with six people knowledgeable about the task force, all of whom painted a similar picture.

[snip]

"For the first time in modern U.S. history, we are witnessing purely vindictive and retaliatory actions being taken against non-partisan civil servants who simply performed their jobs consistent with law and policy during prior time," said Mark Zaid, a Washington lawyer who represents government whistleblowers.

[snip]

And at the D.C. U.S. Attorney's Office, the interim top prosecutor fired or demoted dozens of assistant U.S. attorneys who had won convictions against hundreds of rioters who assaulted the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021. Those who did not resign were given jobs typically assigned to junior prosecutors, sometimes referred to as "baby AUSAs," like handling misdemeanors in D.C. Superior Court or working in the office's intake section screening cases for prosecution or alternative action.

[griswold3]

Insert JD Vance meme “Do you hear yourself?”
Here

[Texan5]

Bwahahahaaa! Venganza con clase-I love it-the employment version of Siberia.
At least these lawyers can get out by resigning, unlike those sent to the REAL Siberia in the old USSR...

[ModelBreaker]

“For the first time in modern U.S. history, we are witnessing purely vindictive and retaliatory actions being taken against non-partisan civil servants who simply performed their jobs consistent with law and policy during prior time,” said Mark Zaid, a Washington lawyer who represents government whistleblowers.”

I wonder if he knows how stupid he sounds.

[BobL]

Most (or at least many) of those New York City ‘teachers’ send to their Rubber Room weren’t just ‘incompetent’ (which likely wouldn’t leave any ‘teachers’ if that were a standard there), but rather were sexual perverts who had to be kept away from kids. Something that is conveniently NOT MENTIONED in the story.

Also not mentioned is the fact that they cannot, by law, be fired, even though they’re (obviously) unable to act to advance the elected administration’s interests.