(Luis Cornelio, Headline USA) Outgoing President Joe Biden has unexpectedly changed the order of succession for the DOJ, a move some critics claim could be aimed at preempting President-elect Donald Trump’s plan to reshape the federal agency in 2025.
Biden signed an executive order on Friday to modify the succession plan in case the attorney general, deputy attorney general or associate attorney general has died, resigned or is unable to perform their duties.
The new order places the U.S. attorneys for the Southern District of New York, the District of Arizona, the Northern District of Illinois, and the District of Hawaii in line to assume leadership of the DOJ if those top positions become vacant.
Echoes of Obama doing the same in January 2017. https://t.co/jB94N94ofO
— Eric Columbus (@EricColumbus) January 4, 2025
On X, some have speculated that this order is a strategy to compel Trump to inherit some of Biden’s holdover officials, reminiscent of the scenario that occurred in 2017 with Sally Yates.
Yates, who was a deputy attorney general in the Obama administration, became the acting attorney general during the initial days of Trump’s presidency.
From Jan. 20 to Jan. 30, 2017, Yates defied Trump’s orders, most notably opposing his travel ban intended to prevent terrorist attacks in the U.S., which ultimately led to her firing.
President Trump fires acting Attorney General Sally Yates after she defies immigration order https://t.co/GVzbAmBebx pic.twitter.com/MiMKSUZEYV
— TIME (@TIME) January 31, 2017
Notably, before Trump’s inauguration in 2017, then-President Barack Obama modified the order of succession on Jan. 13, 2017, placing the U.S. attorneys for the District of Columbia, Northern District of Illinois and the Central District of California at the top of the line in case of a vacancy.
Trump reversed this order on Feb. 9, 2017 (after firing Yates), elevating the U.S. attorneys for the Eastern District of Virginia, the Northern District of Illinois, and the Western District of Missouri instead. He subsequently changed the order again two months later.
Biden’s new order is not final, as Trump can issue his own executive order to reorganize the order of succession. He also has the authority to appoint any federal prosecutor as acting attorney general, bypassing the established succession order.
After firing Yates in 2017, Trump appointed Dana Boente, then-U.S. attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia, as acting attorney general until Jeff Sessions was confirmed to that position.
Biden’s changes come amid reports that he is “Trump-proofing” the White House and the federal government as Trump prepares to take office. Critics have condemned this scheme, stating that it undermines the will of the voters who elected Trump in the 2024 presidential election.
