Main: President Donald Trump listens as Attorney General Todd Blanche speaks at a roundtable event in the East Room of the White House, Wednesday, Oct. 21, 2026, in Washington (AP Photo/Alex Brandon). Center inset: Former Assistant Attorney General Brett Shumate (DOJ).
A DOJ attorney who argued major civil cases and signed his name to some of the most controversial matters of President Donald Trump's second term has resigned from his post, Attorney General Todd Blanche said Monday.
A reason for Assistant Attorney General Brett Shumate's resignation as chief of the Civil Division was not offered, but it follows other high-profile departures from the Trump administration after the Republican Party's midterm election losses.
These resignations include ex-Attorney General Pam Bondi's former counselor Henry Whitaker; Civil Rights Division Assistant Attorney General Harmeet Dhillon; "grand conspiracy" probe U.S. Attorney Jason Reding Quiñones in the Southern District of Florida; and DOJ National Security Division head John Eisenberg.
Shumate argued and lost the DOJ's tariffs case on appeal at the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit, then signed a letter warning that revoking the president's tariffs would make America a "dead country" again.
The U.S. Supreme Court was unswayed by those claims and smacked down the tariffs as unlawful.
After an assassination attempt on the president at the White House Correspondents' Association dinner in April, Shumate signed a letter claiming that an architectural historian's lawsuit to block the construction of Trump's ballroom meant that the "lives of the President, his family, his Cabinet, and his staff, and those of future Presidents, are being subject to avoidable hazard[.]"
The Supreme Court allowed the ballroom's construction to continue in a 5-4 interim docket ruling that didn't reach the merits and included a dissent from Chief Justice John Roberts, who called the project "likely unlawful."
The now-former DOJ attorney also argued the DOJ's California National Guard deployment case and took the lead for the Trump administration in asking the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit to put the kibosh on the contempt probe Chief U.S. District Judge James Boasberg opened over Alien Enemies Act deportations.
Blanche said Monday that he "accepted" Shumate's resignation and credited his "leadership" for "key wins in lawsuits against local policies that endangered federal law enforcement" and "historic settlements to end illegal corporate DEI practices and shutter[] dozens of clinics which were providing so-called 'gender affirming care' to minors."
"We are grateful for Brett's service at DOJ and wish him continued success," the AG added.