Status of U.S. attorneys in US DOJ (2021)
<p>With the new President Biden and his administration in the U.S., I see news stories that the Biden administration is asking 56 Trump-appointed and Senate confirmed U.S. attorneys to resign from their positions at the DOJ.</p>
<p>How does this work? Do they have to resign if asked? If one does refuse to resign, will their life as a prosecutor be difficult?</p>

<p>The DoJ under the executive branch has attorneys, judges are under the independent judicial branch. US attorneys serve at the pleasure of the president, so in the worst case they can be fired and some were by the previous administration. It is common for US attorneys to resign at a change of administration, but an administration can press for resignations as in <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2017_dismissal_of_U.S._attorneys" rel="noreferrer">the 2017 dismissal of Obama appointees</a> (where some &quot;solicited&quot; resignations were not accepted). Ultimately the attorney can be fired, as <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Geoffrey_Berman" rel="noreferrer">Geoffrey Berman</a> was (fired for different reasons).</p>

<p>It's just a professional courtesy. They don't <em>have</em> to resign, but if they don't they'll be fired. They all know this (you don't get to that level without knowing how the game is played), so they'll go ahead and resign. They'll all be fine. They'll go to a law firm and triple or quadruple (or more) their salaries, go be law professors, or both. Some will look for the right opportunity to run for the house, governor, or state AG if they want to stay close to practicing law. Others may just bide their time and wait for the next conservative administration, then try to get back into a USA or other high level DOJ role.</p>

united-states judiciary prosecution