President Donald Trump’s nominee for attorney general, Todd Blanche, will appear before the Senate Judiciary Committee for his confirmation hearing Wednesday, July 15, and Thursday, July 16.
Ahead of the hearing, the Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights along with dozens of national organizations (including the Feminist Majority Foundation, publisher of Ms.) sent a letter to the committee calling on senators to vote against his confirmation, citing a pattern of political interference and attacks on civil rights protections.
Blanche “has turned the DOJ into an instrument of Trump’s personal rage and revenge,” the coalition writes. “The role of the Attorney General is not to protect the interests of the President, but to protect the interests of the nation’s people.” (Read the letter in full at the end of this story.)
Blanche has served as acting attorney general since April after Pam Bondi left the position. Before joining the Justice Department, Blanche represented Trump as his personal criminal defense attorney during several of the president’s criminal cases. He was confirmed as deputy attorney general on March 5, 2025, and became acting attorney general on April 2, 2026.
In a memo released ahead of the hearing, the Leadership Conference argued that Blanche has used the Justice Department to advance the president’s political agenda rather than serve as an independent law enforcement agency: “He bears responsibility for the Justice Department’s transformation into an instrument of President Trump’s personal revenge.” The coalition pointed to a series of actions it says have weakened civil rights enforcement, undermined the rule of law and threatened democratic institutions.
In March, Blanche endorsed deploying ICE officers to polling places while speaking at the Conservative Political Action Conference. Federal law generally prohibits armed federal officers from being stationed at polling places except under limited circumstances. This policy could intimidate voters and discourage participation, particularly in immigrant communities.
Blanche has led efforts to investigate civil rights organizations. Under his leadership, the Justice Department has targeted groups including the Southern Poverty Law Center and the Ohio Organizing Collaborative. These investigations represent an unprecedented effort to use federal law enforcement against organizations that work to protect voting rights and boost civic participation.
Blanche has also expanded the administration’s campaign against diversity, equity and inclusion. In May 2025, he launched the DOJ’s Civil Rights Fraud Initiative, which directs the department to investigate organizations that receive federal funding while maintaining DEI programs the administration believes violate federal law. This could pressure schools, nonprofits, and businesses to eliminate programs intended to address discrimination and expand opportunity.
The coalition further raised concerns about Blanche’s treatment of DOJ employees. In April 2025, he fired veteran DOJ attorney Erez Reuveni after Reuveni acknowledged in federal court that Kilmar Abrego Garcia had been wrongfully deported to El Salvador. Reuveni later filed a whistleblower complaint alleging senior department officials encouraged government lawyers to disregard court orders and make false statements to judges. This incident reflects a broader effort to punish officials who refuse to carry out politically motivated actions.
The attorney general oversees the enforcement of federal civil rights laws, including protections against sex discrimination, voting rights violations, hate crimes, and workplace discrimination. The office also plays a key role in enforcing the Violence Against Women Act (VAWA) and protecting access to reproductive healthcare under federal law. Those responsibilities require an attorney general who can act independently of political influence.
The memo argues Blanche has blurred the line between serving as the president’s personal attorney and serving as the nation’s chief law enforcement officer. During his confirmation hearing for deputy attorney general, Blanche declined to commit to stepping aside from matters related to the criminal cases in which he represented Trump.
The Senate Judiciary Committee will question Blanche about his record during the confirmation hearing before deciding whether to advance his nomination to the full Senate.
The letter in full:
The Honorable Chuck Grassley, Chairman
Committee on the Judiciary
United States SenateThe Honorable Dick Durbin, Ranking Member
Committee on the Judiciary
United States SenateDear Chairman Grassley and Ranking Member Durbin:
The Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights and 46 additional organizations write to express our strong opposition to the confirmation of Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche as the next Attorney General of the United States. If this nomination is ultimately brought to a vote on the Senate floor, The Leadership Conference intends to include Senators’ positions in our voting record for the 119th Congress.The U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) was created more than 150 years ago in part to enforce the Reconstruction Amendments aimed at abolishing slavery, ensuring equal protection under the law, and securing voting rights for Black Americans. Its mission historically included the enforcement of our federal civil rights laws and the upholding of principles of equality and justice that are foundational to American democracy.
Blanche’s nomination flies in the face of this history and these principles. As Deputy Attorney General and Acting Attorney General, he bears responsibility for the DOJ’s transformation into a protector of President Trump’s personal and political interests, rather than the protector of the people’s rights through the neutral use of prosecutorial powers. He has turned the DOJ into an instrument of Trump’s personal rage and revenge. He has turned the Department into a defender of civil rights violators, instead prosecuting organizations and people who have worked to hold the government accountable and who have fought for civil rights and against hate and extremism.
Blanche has repeatedly demonstrated he is committed to serving Trump above all and to dismantling and reversing our nation’s civil rights progress. At his confirmation hearing last year to be Deputy Attorney General, he would not even commit to recusing himself from matters where he served as Trump’s personal attorney. He remains the president’s lawyer, still representing his client, but now with the full resources of the federal government behind him.
Examples of Blanche’s Record
During his tenure, before and after his elevation to Acting Attorney General, Blanche has:
- Publicly asserted Trump has a “right” and a “duty” to direct the Department to investigate specific individuals, breaking with 50 years of post-Watergate independence.
- Weaponized the federal government in a coordinated attack against those deemed political enemies who are fighting to protect civil rights including the Southern Poverty Law Center, and civic participation organizations like the Ohio Organizing Collaborative.
- Publicly endorsed sending Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officers to polling stations in the 2026 midterm elections at a Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) event, where he also agreed with a debunked claim of widespread noncitizen voting and praised the Civil Rights Division’s corrupt and dangerous effort to obtain unredacted state voter rolls. His appearance at a partisan political event broke with decades of internal DOJ policy.
- Personally interviewed convicted child sex trafficker Ghislaine Maxwell over two days in a closed-door meeting, with no other DOJ prosecutors or law enforcement personnel present. Days after the interview, Maxwell was transferred to a minimum-security prison camp.
- Weaponized the False Claims Act (FCA) to advance the President’s political agenda when, in May 2025, he launched the Civil Rights Fraud Initiative to investigate and bring fraud claims against private companies, educational institutions, and other federal contractors and grantees that certify their compliance with federal civil rights laws. Blanche has asserted that these entities may be liable under the FCA if they engage in practices to advance diversity, equity, inclusion, and accessibility.
- Fired two immigration judges, Judges Roopal Patel and Nina Froes, because they refused to rubber-stamp deportations of pro-Palestinian voices. This followed an announcement by Blanche in March 2025 that the DOJ was investigating whether pro-Palestinian protesters at Columbia University violated federal anti-terrorism laws, stating “this is long overdue.” Patel and Froes were among six judges fired that day and 113 fired since January of last year.
- Fired a 15-year DOJ immigration attorney, Erez Reuveni, for truthfully telling a court that Kilmar Abrego Garcia had been wrongfully deported to El Salvador. In a subsequent whistleblower disclosure to Congress, Reuveni alleged senior officials directed subordinates to defy court orders and make false statements to judges.
- Moved to erase the seditious conspiracy convictions of 12 Proud Boys and Oath Keepers leaders for their involvement in the January 6 insurrection at the Capitol. Trump had previously commuted, but not pardoned, these defendants. Vacating the convictions would erase their felonies and restore their firearms rights ahead of the 2026 midterms.
- Removed the career prosecutor leading the investigation of former CIA Director John Brennan after she raised concerns about the sufficiency of the evidence, and replaced her with Joseph diGenova, a longtime Trump devotee who has publicly called Brennan a traitor. Several weeks later, Blanche publicly defended the felony prosecution of another Trump adversary, former FBI Director James Comey, for posting a photo of seashells on his social media account.
Conclusion
The role of the Attorney General is not to protect the interests of the President, but to protect the interests of the nation’s people. But throughout his tenure at DOJ, Todd Blanche has repeatedly acted as the president’s personal lawyer still representing his client — and he is now using his powers to indict civil rights organizations, vacate the convictions of seditious conspirators, fire career prosecutors who tell the truth in court, and supervise the prosecution of Trump’s political adversaries.
His record disqualifies him for Senate confirmation as the nation’s chief law enforcement officer. As such, we urge you to reject his confirmation.
Sincerely,
The Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights
Alliance for Justice
American Association of University Women (AAUW)
American Atheists
American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees
Arab American Institute (AAI)
Asian Americans Advancing Justice – AAJC
Clearinghouse on Women’s Issues
Coalition on Human Needs
Common Cause
Constitutional Accountability Center
Court Accountability Action
Demand Justice
Democracy 21
Disability Rights Education & Defense Fund
Earthjustice Action
Equal Justice Society
Equal Rights Advocates
Feminist Majority Foundation
Human Rights Campaign
Indivisible
Just Detention International
Lambda Legal
Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights Under Law
Lawyers for Good Government
League of Conservation Voters
League of United Latin American Citizens (LULAC)
Legal Momentum, The Women’s Legal Defense and Education Fund
NAACP Legal Defense & Educational Fund, Inc.
National Council of Jewish Women
National Fair Housing Alliance
National Hispanic Media Coalition
National Immigration Law Center
National Latina Institute for Reproductive Justice
National Organization for Women
National Women’s Law Center
National Women’s Political Caucus
National Workrights Institute
Oasis Legal Services
People For the American Way
Reproductive Freedom for All
Stand Up America
The Feminist Majority
The Fenway Institute
The Sikh Coalition
Trans Empowerment Project
Voto Latino
cc: Members of the Senate Committee on the Judiciary
This story was originally published by the Feminist Majority, “Trump’s Attorney General Pick Raises Alarm Over Civil Rights Record.”
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