A top Justice Department attorney who has defended some of the Trump administration’s most politically and legally contentious cases is set to leave the department later this month after facing off against the nation’s most prominent appellate advocates.
Abhishek Kambli, a deputy associate attorney general who has been working under acting Attorney General Todd Blanche and previously under Pam Bondi, announced Thursday that he will depart the DOJ at the end of May after roughly 15 months. However, his leave will only come after he finishes oral arguments in two major showdowns over President Donald Trump’s executive authority.
Kambli is scheduled to argue next Thursday before the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit in a pair of closely watched cases involving Trump’s executive orders targeting major law firms and security clearance disputes. The arguments are expected to test the outer bounds of presidential authority over national security access, federal contracting, and executive branch control.
Kambli will face off against veteran Washington attorneys Paul Clement and Abbe Lowell, both of whom are representing challengers to the administration’s actions.
The administration’s battle with Big Law stems from Trump executive orders directed at firms including Perkins Coie, Jenner & Block, WilmerHale, and Susman Godfrey. Multiple district judges blocked the orders after finding them likely unconstitutional. The administration has appealed those rulings, arguing the president possesses broad constitutional authority over security clearances and executive branch access.
Kambli is also helping defend the administration’s revocation of security clearances for attorney Mark Zaid, a national security lawyer known for representing the whistleblower whose complaint helped trigger Trump’s first impeachment.
“Serving as Deputy Associate Attorney General has been the most rewarding and enjoyable professional experience of my career,” Kambli wrote in a LinkedIn post announcing his departure.
Kambli said he helped lead DOJ litigation efforts involving immigration, energy, and civil rights issues while personally arguing more than 20 cases defending Trump’s agenda “on just about every subject matter under the sun.”
DOJ spokeswoman Emily Covington praised Kambli’s work in a statement to the Washington Examiner.
“We wish Deputy Associate Attorney General Abhishek Kambli the very best as he concludes his tenure at DOJ,” Covington said. “During his time at the Department, he was a go-to advocate for high profile matters defending President Trump’s agenda and personally argued over 20 cases. He had planned to transition back to private practice following his time with government, and we thank him for his service to the country.”
Kambli’s departure also comes as DOJ leadership has begun broader efforts to stabilize staffing and recruit attorneys amid persistent turnover across parts of the department. Bloomberg Law recently reported that DOJ components have begun offering retention incentives and signing bonuses for some positions, including recruitment bonuses reaching as high as $25,000 for new hires.
In an interview, Kambli described the administration’s litigation environment as a job that can be seen as an intense test for DOJ attorneys, citing the sheer number of lawsuits challenging presidential actions, but one that he views as worthwhile to his career.
“People on the outside don’t appreciate outside the pure volume of lawsuits that the DOJ is handling,” Kambli said, estimating the administration has faced roughly 600 lawsuits pertaining to presidential priorities alone since Trump returned to office.
He said DOJ attorneys are frequently forced to litigate in jurisdictions hostile to the administration while opposing elite legal talent.
“You’re not only handling the high volume, but you’re doing it against the very best litigators on the other side,” Kambli said. “Part of the fun of the job is being tested against the very best on the other side. I don’t prefer the ease of victories. I prefer going on the uphill battle.”
Kambli emerged as one of the administration’s lead courtroom defenders after earlier setbacks in the law firm litigation. He replaced another DOJ attorney who left the department after struggling to defend the orders during early hearings.
Kambli argued that much of the litigation surrounding Trump’s executive actions has been driven as much by politics as constitutional interpretation.
“The big key is to drown out the political noise that goes on and keep a focus on legal issues,” he said.
Before joining the DOJ, Kambli, who moved to the United States from India at the age of 3, served as a federal prosecutor in Indiana and maintains working as a lawyer for the U.S. Air Force, which has included matters related to military commissions involving one of the Sept. 11 terrorist attack defendants, according to Bloomberg Law.
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“My grandmother was illiterate, and my dad worked at a gas station his whole life,” Kambli told the Washington Examiner. “The prospect, if I stayed in India or somewhere else, of me going where I’ve been going would have been very little, but it wasn’t that way” in the U.S.
Kambli did not disclose his next move but said he was “thrilled for what will be coming next.”