In a lawsuit that reads like a warning flare to Washington, three former Justice Department officials have accused U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi of booting them from their posts without cause, process, or even a semblance of explanation — and they’re not going quietly.
The trio — Michael Gordon, Patricia Hartman, and Joseph Tirrell — claim they were unceremoniously dismissed in late June and early July, each receiving a barebones memo that offered no reason for their ousting. Their lawsuit, filed in a D.C. federal court, charges that Bondi’s Justice Department violated core civil service protections and dumped them in retaliation for their work on politically sensitive matters — including prosecutions tied to the January 6 Capitol attack.
“No cause, let alone a proper merit-based one, or required due process was provided,” the complaint reads. In simpler terms: they were fired, full stop, without justification.
All three plaintiffs had held high-level positions. Gordon, an assistant U.S. attorney in Florida, later joined the Capitol Siege Section in Washington as senior trial counsel. Hartman was a public affairs specialist managing communications for Jan. 6 prosecutions. Tirrell led the DOJ’s ethics office.
The suit names Bondi, the DOJ, and the Executive Office of the President as defendants. Official silence greeted the filing: the DOJ declined to comment, and the White House stayed quiet.
Representing the plaintiffs is a heavyweight legal team that includes Abbe Lowell, now heading his own firm, as well as Mark Zaid, Bradley Moss, and Norman Eisen. Lowell minced no words: “They followed the law, not politics, and were fired for it.”
This isn’t the first sign of a purge. Since January, the Justice Department has been steadily removing officials who worked on Trump-related investigations, allegedly invoking executive authority as a shield.
But the plaintiffs are pushing back — not just for their jobs, but for the principle that justice shouldn’t depend on political winds.
