Federal Judges Chastise Trump’s Justice Department for “Unlawful,” “Unethical” and “Unseemly” Conduct

Federal judges across the country are openly questioning whether they can trust the Trump administration's Justice Department to follow the law. According to ProPublica's investigation, judges have cited what's called "the presumption of regularity," a centuries-old legal doctrine requiring courts to assume government officials act in good faith and follow the rules, in more than forty cases since Trump took office. The doctrine had rarely been questioned in federal courtrooms until now. Judges, including some appointed by Trump himself, say the DOJ has repeatedly made misrepresentations or filed legally questionable documents. Examples include filing AI-generated briefs referencing nonexistent case law, submitting documents with incorrect dates, and claiming a detainee had a drug conviction from two thousand nine when that person would have been four years old. A former federal judge told ProPublica he's never seen anything like it in the history of American jurisprudence. The breakdown of this foundational trust between the bench and Justice Department signals a significant institutional fracture.

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