President Donald Trump addresses reporters in the James Brady Press Briefing Room at the White House following an unspecified threat at the annual White House Correspondents’ Association Dinner in Washington on Saturday, April 25, 2026, as then-acting Attorney General Todd Blanche stands nearby (AP Photo/Alex Brandon).
A former senior Justice Department official dismissed under the Trump administration has taken her case to federal court in Washington, D.C., claiming in a new lawsuit that her removal was illegal.
Elizabeth Oyer was serving in early 2025 as the DOJ pardon attorney, a nonpolitical career role focused on helping guide the executive branch through clemency-related matters.
But after President Donald Trump returned to office, Oyer says she was pushed to abandon the normal responsibilities of her position and help carry out what her 32-page complaint describes as “a political favor” for actor Mel Gibson.
According to the lawsuit, Oyer alleges that Gibson’s connection to Trump led to pressure for her office to create the appearance that an independent review had concluded the actor — previously convicted in a domestic violence case — should have his firearm rights reinstated.
“Ms. Oyer declined,” the lawsuit continues. “Shortly after, she was fired by then-Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche.”
The only message Blanche gave was that she was out of her job in the Office of the Pardon Attorney “pursuant to Article II of the United States Constitution and the laws of the United States.”
This excuse simply was not legal, Oyer says.
“DOJ made no pretense of adhering to statutorily mandated procedures, which required DOJ to provide Ms. Oyer with notice and an opportunity to be heard,” the lawsuit goes on. “Nor did DOJ purport to remove Ms. Oyer for any statutorily allowable reason.”
Instead, Oyer received the “terse notice” containing the boilerplate claim about the Article II powers, the lawsuit claims.
The plaintiff says her termination violated her constitutional due process rights and her rights under the Civil Service Reform Act (CSRA). The lawsuit also claims a First Amendment violation because the removal was partially based on Oyer’s “perceived political affiliation.”
Oyer claims a further constitutional violation of the separation of powers doctrine “because ‘Article II’ does not give DOJ carte blanche to disregard removal protections mandated by Congress.”
The plaintiff says the gun rights request for the Hollywood actor was the real reason for her firing.
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First, Oyer notes, she was assigned the “unusual task” of developing a list of people whose gun rights were lost due to criminal convictions, but “who merited” consideration for gun rights restoration by the DOJ, according to the lawsuit.
The plaintiff worked in a group to develop a list of 95 such individuals and provided the data to Blanche. In turn, Blanche’s office whittled that list down to nine individuals and asked Oyer to develop a memo making the case for restoration, the filing recounts.
“Ms. Oyer drafted the memo, as requested,” the lawsuit continues. “Mr. Blanche’s staff then came back to Ms. Oyer with another request: they asked her to add the actor Mel Gibson to the list.”
The plaintiff says she declined to put Gibson on the list for two reasons. First, she cited the actor’s history of domestic violence. Second, she noted that “unlike the other individuals on the recommended list for gun rights restoration, who had undergone a significant amount of background investigation, Mr. Gibson had not been investigated.” Oyer said the lack of an investigation meant her team “was not able to assess his likelihood of recidivism.”
On March 6, 2025, Oyer sent an email indicating that Gibson would not make the cut, according to the lawsuit.
“Later the same day, a senior official on Mr. Blanche’s staff called Ms. Oyer and urged her to recommend reinstatement of Mr. Gibson’s gun rights anyway in consideration of the fact that Mr. Gibson had a personal relationship with President Trump,” the complaint goes on. “The official employed a bullying tone and suggested to Ms. Oyer that she would be wise to make the recommendation.”
The next day, Oyer penned a formal memo relaying her concerns with Gibson’s case and noting the attorney general had the ultimate decision in the matter, the lawsuit says.
Later that day, during a meeting on an unrelated issue, a colleague pulled her aside and told her that security was waiting in her office to deliver termination documents, the lawsuit alleges. In her office, she was handed Blanche’s short memo while security officers “instructed her to pack up her personal belongings, and escorted her out of the building.”
Aside from statutory and constitutional violations, the filing insists the firing was illegally political:
DOJ’s perception [was] that Ms. Oyer, who was hired during the Biden Administration, was not politically affiliated with the current Administration. Indeed, when Ms. Oyer declined to disregard her duties in order to perform a favor for her politically-appointed superiors and President Trump, she was summarily terminated.
The plaintiff is requesting a declaratory judgment that her firing violated the law and Constitution. She is also seeking reinstatement, back pay and benefits, and an injunction barring the Trump administration “from taking any further adverse personnel action” against her.
The post Former pardon attorney says she was fired over her refusal to back gun rights restoration for Mel Gibson as a ‘political favor’ due to his ‘relationship’ with Trump first appeared on Law & Crime.