DOJ headquarters Office of the Attorney General at the U.S. Department of Justice in Washington, D.C. June 6, 2020. Credit: Diego M. Radzinschi / ALM

Ethan Davis, a top official in the U.S. Justice Department division tasked with defending Trump administration policies in court, is stepping in as the division's leader following the resignation of Assistant Attorney General Jody Hunt.

Davis, a former litigation partner at King & Spalding in San Francisco, returned to the Justice Department as Hunt's top deputy in July 2019 after clerking for Justice Neil Gorsuch. Davis had previously served as a top political appointee overseeing the consumer protection branch of the Justice Department's civil division, a role that gave him oversight of initiatives to combat the opioid crisis and elder fraud.

Before joining King & Spalding in 2013, Davis spent four years as a career Justice Department lawyer in the federal programs branch of the civil division, the section responsible for defending federal agencies in courts across the country.

In recent months, amid the coronavirus outbreak, Davis has focused on the civil division's efforts to stamp out fraud connected to the pandemic and government stimulus programs responding to the global health crisis.

Hunt announced his resignation in an email to civil division staff earlier this month, on the same day the Justice Department escalated its lawsuit against former Trump national security adviser John Bolton to ask for an emergency order barring the distribution of his memoir. The complaint was filed under Hunt's name.

A federal judge in Washington quickly rejected the request for an emergency order. But Judge Royce Lamberth also lambasted Bolton for proceeding with publication before receiving final authorization from the White House, which reviewed the book for classified information.

Lamberth is still considering a request from the Justice Department to seize Bolton's proceeds from the memoir, for which he was reportedly paid a $2 million advance.

Within the Justice Department, Hunt had questioned the wisdom of seeking an emergency injunction to prevent the release of Bolton's book, which had already been printed and widely distributed, according to sources familiar with the internal deliberations.

In his staff-wide email, Hunt did not address what drove his surprise resignation, which he said would take effect July 3.

"It has been the greatest honor and privilege of my professional career to have served together with you (and many before you) for more than two decades," Hunt wrote, praising the Justice Department's civil division as "the greatest litigation force on earth."

U.S. Attorney General William Barr on Monday acknowledged Hunt's upcoming departure in a statement praising his more than 20-year career at the Justice Department.

Ethan Davis Ethan Davis. Credit: US Justice Department

"Jody has served the Department of Justice with honor and distinction for over two decades," Barr said. "Under his direction as assistant attorney general for these past two years, the civil division has vigorously defended the administration's most important policies and achieved many successes, from regaining billions of dollars from those who sought to defraud our government, to protecting our nation's seniors by bringing to justice those who sought to abuse and exploit them."

Hunt has not announced his next steps. In the 1990s, Hunt was an associate and then partner at King & Spalding in Atlanta. Earlier, Hunt was an associate at White & Case.

Davis was part of a wave of King & Spalding lawyers who grabbed key positions at agencies across the Trump administration. Former partner Christopher Wray is now leading the FBI as director. Other former King & Spalding lawyers took posts at the U.S. trade representative and at the U.S. Commerce Department.

In 2015, Davis was an associate at King & Spalding when he made his argument debut at the U.S. Supreme Court. It's rare for law firm associates to argue at the high court. "I've just felt since I've been [at King & Spalding] they've been seriously looking out for my career," Davis said in an interview at the time.

 

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