‘Ride it out’: Trump resisters urged to stay in federal government

Anti-Trump federal government lawyers are being begged to “ride it out” in the new administration, with activists encouraging them to act as a bulwark against the incoming president’s policies and actions.

Those who feel they cannot remain on the inside, meanwhile, are being urged to look for jobs in Democrat-led state governments where they can find other perches to battle against Mr. Trump.

The legal specialists doled out the advice on an American Constitution Society webinar last week, titled “Should I stay or should I go,” which pondered the decisions facing federal employees who aren’t thrilled to be working for Mr. Trump.

The overriding advice was to stay — if they can stomach it.

“I think it’d be really important to have people of integrity in place in the Department of Justice and elsewhere to stand up and say ’This is wrong,’” said Barbara McQuade, who served as a U.S. attorney until she was ousted early in the first Trump administration.

“You might just ride it out and see how things go,” said Ms. McQuade, now a professor at the University of Michigan Law School.

The advisers said federal employees need to figure out what lines they have, ethically or legally, that they won’t cross. They warned lawyers to be prepared to resign if such action makes an important statement, but they were urged to at least give it a go at first.

“I hope you consider staying,” said Jennifer Nou, a law professor at the University of Chicago.

An overriding worry was that they wouldn’t be given the chance.

Mr. Trump has promised to take control of the federal workforce — some of which he has referred to as the “deep state” — and sideline those who won’t go along with his plans.

That includes a planned attempt to strip civil service protections from tens of thousands of employees deemed to be in policy-related jobs. The theory is that those jobs are critical to carrying out an elected president’s wishes, and employees who hinder that should be easier to move or fire.

The lawyers on the ACS webinar said they doubted the culling would be as extensive as some fear, and they said the Biden administration has taken some steps to hinder Mr. Trump. It will take time to unwind those steps, and the whole issue will likely end up in the courts anyway.

At the same time, the lawyers warned employees to be careful about carrying their disagreements too far unless there are cases of “clear legal violations.”

“I hope that nothing that I say is going to be misconstrued as endorsing resistance,” Ms. Nou said.

She said it’s also important for civil servants working on issues to build a thorough record of the evidence in the hope that it could derail a Trump policy during future litigation.

“There’s a really important role for that documentation,” she said.

Jill Habig, founder of the Public Rights Project, said a lot of the tough talk about federal workers is “bluster,” but she said employees do need to be ready to draw lines.

“Of course you should be expected as a federal employee to set aside your personal political views or policy views. But you don’t have to be expected — and you shouldn’t be expected — to set aside your legal and ethical obligations,” she said.

For those who stay, the lawyers said there are methods to blunt overzealous Trump actions, such as becoming a whistleblower or asking their labor union to take up an issue.

Joe Spielberger, a lawyer at the Project on Government Oversight, said mass resignations were effective weapons against Mr. Trump in his first term.

Those who do leave were encouraged to look for other posts, particularly in Democrat-led states, where they can still battle Mr. Trump or work around him to make headway on immigration, health or environmental issues.

“I would expect the New York, Massachusetts, Michigan, Illinois and Washington state attorney general’s offices to be posting positions relatively soon,” Ms. Habig said.

She also said local prosecutors’ offices and city councils can be good landing spots for people who want to “push back on any lawlessness from this administration.”

The Washington Times has reached out to the Trump team for this story.