Restoring the Rule of Law: Why Lee Zeldin Belongs at the DOJ Helm
As a longtime adjunct professor of political science at colleges across New York and a former top aide to both Republican and Democratic elected officials in the state, I have watched the Justice Department’s reputation erode under successive administrations. I worked with elected officials from both parties at all levels of government who understood that the rule of law must be applied evenly or it collapses. That is why President Trump should nominate former Congressman Lee Zeldin to replace Pam Bondi as Attorney General.
Bondi served loyally and helped begin the work of reorienting the department away from politicized prosecutions. But the next phase demands a leader with prosecutorial experience inside the federal system, deep roots in the very state where the Justice Department’s credibility was most damaged, and the battlefield credibility to restore public trust. Zeldin checks every box.
A Long Island native, Zeldin earned his law degree from Albany Law School and became the youngest attorney sworn into the New York bar at 23. He then served four years on active duty with the U.S. Army, including deployment to Iraq with the 82nd Airborne Division. There he functioned not only as a military intelligence officer but also as a federal prosecutor and military magistrate. That combination of real courtroom experience prosecuting cases under the Uniform Code of Military Justice, combined with more than two decades as a lieutenant colonel in the Army Reserve law gives him credentials few recent Attorneys General have possessed.
Most important for the moment, Zeldin understands how the federal legal apparatus was turned against a sitting president.
Zeldin’s civilian record is similarly compelling. As a New York state senator and then congressman, he consistently championed law-enforcement funding, opposed soft-on-crime policies that fueled urban violence, and fought to protect veterans from bureaucratic neglect. In 2022 he came within six points of winning the New York governorship in a deep-blue state, proving he can appeal to working-class voters who have grown disgusted with politicized justice.
Most important for the moment, Zeldin understands how the federal legal apparatus was turned against a sitting president. The Manhattan and state-level cases that targeted Donald Trump originated in the same political culture Zeldin has battled for years in Albany and Washington. As Attorney General he would bring an insider’s knowledge of how career prosecutors and FBI leadership can be pressured, and an outsider’s resolve to end that pressure once and for all.
Critics will say geography should not matter. They are wrong. New York was ground zero for the weaponization of lawfare. Nominating a New Yorker who has already defeated Democratic machines at the ballot box signals that the Trump administration intends to govern the entire country, not just red states. It also reassures the tens of thousands of line agents and prosecutors who want to do their jobs without political interference that the department’s new leader has walked the same streets and faced the same courthouse politics they have.
Zeldin is no newcomer to the Trump orbit. He endorsed the president early, defended him through two impeachments, and never wavered. Loyalty paired with competence is rare in Washington. Trump has always valued fighters who deliver. The president should nominate Lee Zeldin as Attorney General. The country’s faith in equal justice under law depends on it.
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