Today, CREW and 18 groups, including Public Citizen, Fair and Just Prosecution and People for the American Way, sent a letter to Speaker Mike Johnson and House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, urging members of Congress to oppose the District of Columbia Attorney General Appointment Reform Act of 2025, which if enacted, would grant the president the power to fire the democratically-elected attorney general of Washington, D.C. and replace them with a new attorney general of the president’s choosing.

Attorneys general are responsible for serving and defending the people, not the president or federal government. Currently, 43 of the 50 state attorneys general, including D.C., are directly elected by the people of those states. Giving the president direct authority over selecting the D.C. attorney general would break with the country-wide tradition of electing attorneys general and weaken the District’s limited autonomy, which has already been under attack.   

If this bill is passed, it will irreparably harm prosecutorial independence. President Trump has repeatedly encouraged the justice system to open investigations into and indict lawmakers, judges and civil servants who have opposed his political agenda, including repeated attempts to indict New York Attorney General Letitia James after James brought a successful civil fraud case against Trump in 2022. Given this track record, granting President Trump the ability to select the DC Attorney General could be similarly weaponized, hindering the crucial work that the institution does to protect DC residents.

It is unsurprising that this legislation is coming forward now, given that the D.C. attorney general has brought several lawsuits against the Trump administration, including the ongoing lawsuit against President Trump’s deployment of the National Guard in the city. But apart from this lawsuit, the D.C. attorney general’s office has secured over $661 million in savings and benefits for D.C. residents through its work standing up to landlords, defending District workers and cracking down on deceptive business practices. All of this work could be jeopardized if this bill is passed. 

The residents of DC deserve an independent, democratically-elected attorney general who fights for the best interests of the people. The District of Columbia Attorney General Appointment Reform Act of 2025 is an affront to democracy, and Congress must vote against its passage. 

Read the letter.

Read More in Letters