Fifth Column: The Right Wing Think Tank behind Subversion of the Justice Department

President Donald Trump is openly transforming the Department of Justice’s primary role of advising presidents on the limits of their authority under the Constitution into one that justifies and advocates his MAGA philosophy. This overlooks the reality that the public does not adhere to a single philosophy other than preserving their rights as guaranteed by our constitutional government.

Congress established the position of Attorney General in 1789, and the Department of Justice was founded in 1870 to serve the AG. The department was necessary to legally enforce the Constitution’s 13th, 14th, and 15th Amendments following the Civil War. The Attorney General now possessed expanded powers, shifting from defending the government against civil lawsuits to enforcing laws and pursuing criminal prosecutions.

President Ulysses S. Grant appointed a former Confederate Army officer to prosecute those who resisted the transformation of the Southern Confederacy into a democratic institution, utilizing intimidation and violence against these amendments. By the end of Grant’s first term, there were over 3,000 indictments, with more than a third resulting in convictions.

And now 154 years later, we have another Republican President appointing an Attorney General who directs the Justice Department to punish individuals, schools, and businesses if they promote Diversity, Equality, and Inclusion (DEI) classes. The classes explain why the reconstruction of the South along democratic principles was needed. However, Trump’s MAGA movement sees it as anti-American because it could make white citizens feel guilty about America’s history.

https://www.postalley.org/2025/04/19/fifth-column-the-right-wing-think-tank-behind-subverting-the-justice-department/