DOJ Sets Case Quotas for Prosecutors to Boost Enforcement Numbers

Leaders at the US Department of Justice (DOJ) have begun requiring prosecutors to maintain at least 25 open cases, tightening the Trump administration’s oversight of operational decisions that were traditionally left to individual US attorneys, Bloomberg Law reported.

The office of the deputy attorney general recently communicated the “25 open matters” threshold to all 93 US attorneys’ offices, with the stated aim of improving public safety and fraud enforcement statistics, according to four people familiar with the move. A formal policy change is still being drafted, they said.

DOJ officials in Washington have also started monitoring the department’s case management database to identify prosecutors handling fewer matters, although no enforcement mechanism has yet been announced, the sources added.

The move comes as political appointees have sought to counter criticism over staff departures by highlighting figures they say demonstrate that the department is achieving more with fewer personnel.

“This is the bare minimum, and that quantity in itself is embarrassingly low. The expectation is much higher,” DOJ spokesperson Kiersten Pels said in a statement. “Hundreds of assistant US attorneys across the country routinely manage more than 100 open matters.”

The workload imbalance among thousands of career assistant US attorneys has long been recognised as a challenge within the DOJ. In high-volume districts, prosecutors handling straightforward firearms or drug cases can easily exceed 25 active matters. However, the top-down approach has triggered resistance from senior officials in some US attorneys’ offices, according to three people familiar with the discussions.

The policy places additional pressure on Trump-appointed chief prosecutors, who are already facing difficulties in retaining and recruiting staff.

Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche has openly defended President Donald Trump’s authority to direct investigations into political opponents, while judges have increasingly raised concerns about the department’s credibility.

The administration’s aggressive immigration policies have added to staffing pressures, with some offices assigning criminal prosecutors to handle a rising number of civil habeas petitions filed by immigrant detainees challenging the denial of bond hearings.

“I don’t like the idea of putting quotas on prosecutors,” said Mark Yancey, a former senior DOJ official who headed the Executive Office for US Attorneys’ training academy. “I did not want prosecutors to feel pressure to bring cases where the evidence was insufficient simply to meet a quota.”

Pels rejected those concerns, saying the policy would not encourage prosecutors to pursue weak cases.

The 25-open-matters requirement “will not result in charging bad cases,” she said. “It will result in low-productivity assistant US attorneys leaving the department and patriotic prosecutors taking their place and sending dangerous criminals to federal prison.”

‘Unworkable’ Approach

Previous administrations have monitored productivity across the DOJ’s various prosecuting districts, but former officials said a uniform requirement covering 93 offices — from Manhattan to Guam — represents a significant intervention that fails to account for differences in regional crime patterns and prosecutorial responsibilities.

“A one-size-fits-all policy is unworkable. These issues need to be addressed at the district level by the US attorney,” Yancey said. He previously served as acting US attorney in Oklahoma City.

Since the metric was announced by Aakash Singh, the associate deputy attorney general responsible for overseeing US attorneys’ offices, senior officials in some districts have expressed concerns about what they consider an impractical requirement, according to several people familiar with the matter.

Complex white-collar or national security investigations can consume a prosecutor’s workload for months. In addition, some offices may find it easier to meet the target because of the nature of their jurisdiction, including districts covering Indian territory or military installations.

Singh, regarded as one of the department’s strongest enforcers of the Trump administration’s agenda, has previously drawn criticism from DOJ veterans over his close supervision of prosecutors outside Washington and demands for case-specific information within short deadlines.

Details surrounding the quota, including what qualifies as an “open matter” and whether exemptions will be granted, have not yet been finalised.

One US attorney described the policy as being driven by concerns within the deputy attorney general’s office that an “alarming” number of prosecutors were handling only a small number of cases, according to an email obtained by Bloomberg Law.

The senior prosecutor said Main Justice had suggested that those handling fewer than 25 matters could be reassigned to districts requiring additional support.

 
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