Since President Trump took office in January 2025, federal criminal prosecution and the protection of civil and constitutional rights by the U.S. Department of Justice have been sorely tested. The Watergate scandal in 1972 produced systems of control and supervision in the Department to ensure that legal decisions would not be influenced by personal or partisan considerations and that employees would use sound judgment and integrity. However, the guardrails that were established by successive Attorneys General to protect the independence of the Department from political influence and ensure that attorneys in the Department would be accountable for legal and ethical violations have broken down under the Trump administration. Federal judges in nearly two hundred decisions have rebuked the Department of Justice for unlawful and unethical conduct, protecting lawless conduct by government officials, prosecuting (better word is persecuting) Trump’s enemies, flouting court orders, and stifling dissent. In its disdain for law, ethics, and justice, the Department has become an arm of government tyranny. Join Professor Gershman for a thought-provoking discussion of these developments and their significance.