‘we Will Always Respect The Role Of The Judiciary’: Blanche Flips The Script In Doj Address

Newly confirmed Attorney General Todd Blanche’s 19-minute address to the Justice Department’s workforce Thursday was striking more for what he didn’t say than what he did.

There were no strident attacks on the Biden administration’s stewardship of the department, no denunciations of "activist" federal judges and no calls to end the weaponization of law enforcement — all topics that have featured prominently in some of Blanche’s public remarks as a senior department official over the past year and a half.

Instead, Blanche emphasized to DOJ employees that he was one of them, committed to continuing work the Justice Department has done for generations, often with little change from administration to administration.

“I promise you that I will lead this department with integrity. I promise you that I will focus on our core mission, which is to uphold the rule of law fairly and impartially, to keep this great country safe and to protect the rights of every citizen in this country. And I think about integrity, … it's a promise that we're going to uphold the law without fear or favor,” he said.

That’s a promise that many federal judges and Democratic lawmakers, including some of their Republican colleagues, have found wanting in recent months as the Justice Department launched prosecutions of some of President Donald Trump’s perceived political enemies like former FBI Director James Comey and New York Attorney General Letitia James.

Since Trump came into office, DOJ has also lost thousands of attorneys, many of whom have said they observed increasing politicization of the department.

But Blanche’s message Thursday was one of professionalism and an embrace of internal disagreement, even of employees with “different politics.”

“What I have seen over the past 30 years working intimately with this department is that this department succeeds when people of different backgrounds, different politics, different life experiences put the mission of the department first,” the attorney general said to hundreds of staffers gathered in the department’s Great Hall and thousands more watching on video feeds across the country.

“I think disagreement is extraordinarily healthy. I think disagreement is the only way that we make the best decisions as a department, … and I want to encourage everybody to do that,” he added.

Critics said Blanche’s remarks Thursday were sharply at odds with the actions of DOJ’s management since January 2025.

“Under his leadership, hundreds of DOJ's career workforce have been fired because of their backgrounds, their perceived politics, and for fiercely pushing back in conference rooms throughout the country. Thousands more have left because leadership has consistently violated the principles Blanche articulated: prosecuting defendants based only on the facts and the law; holding those who attack law enforcement accountable; and respecting the courts,” Stacey Young of Justice Connection, a group of former DOJ employees, said in a statement. “Attorney General Blanche's platitudes will only resonate if his actions start matching his words."

In remarks last November to the conservative Federalist Society, Blanche portrayed a department fighting a pitched battle with federal judges across the country as it sought to defend Trump’s policies and executive actions.

“It’s a war, man,” Blanche told the group. “It’s happening over and over and over again. … The system is not set up for efficiency when it comes to rogue activist judges.”

The department has also continued to lash out in public statements at “activist judges” who’ve ruled against Trump’s agenda. However, on Thursday, the attorney general took a jarringly different tone.

“We will always respect the role of the judiciary. We will not engage in or stand for any sort of performative attacks that undermine the institutions that we are sworn to uphold,” Blanche said.

Attacks on the department’s actions during the Biden administration are also a staple of DOJ’s public rhetoric, including in remarks Blanche delivered just one day earlier during a press conference about immigration fraud.

“Under President Trump's leadership, the Department of Justice is working alongside our partners at DHS to secure the border and protect American communities — something that was ignored during the last administration,” Blanche said Wednesday.

In his speech Thursday, Blanche did tout the Trump administration’s work to “restore” safety to American streets, but he omitted any direct criticism of prior policies.

Instead, Blanche told the audience of many who have spent two decades or more at DOJ — and some who may hope to — that he would back their decisions.

“I want people who want to do the right thing every day, because that's what I do every day, or at least that's what I try to do every day,” he said. “If you do that, I promise I will back you every step of the way.”