Activists projected a quote from John Adams onto the Department of Justice building Tuesday evening, hours after the Trump administration unveiled a controversial $1.78 billion fund intended to compensate individuals who claim they were politically targeted by the government.
The words “A government of laws, not of men” were beamed onto a banner of President Trump hanging from the building. The projection was organized by Justice Connection, a group founded by Stacey Young, who said the action was meant to defend the department’s integrity and the principle of equal justice.
Young called the new fund an “extraordinary abuse of power” and a “slush fund” that signals the erosion of legal norms. “The rule of law is crumbling before our eyes,” she told NBC.
The fund, formally dubbed the “anti-weaponization fund,” has drawn sharp bipartisan criticism. Democratic Rep. Jamie Raskin of Maryland called it a “slush fund for January 6 cop-beaters and aggrieved MAGA foot soldiers,” and introduced legislation to block payments. “Only Congress has the power to appropriate federal dollars, and we didn’t appropriate a cent for the J6 millionaire trust fund,” Raskin said.
Republican Rep. Brian Fitzpatrick of Pennsylvania has also pledged to block the fund, arguing it undermines the Justice Department’s independence. Two lawsuits have already been filed against the fund, including one by officers who defended the Capitol on January 6.
President Trump and Vice President JD Vance defended the initiative. “We’re trying to compensate people where the book was thrown at them, they were mistreated by the legal system,” Vance told reporters at a White House briefing Tuesday.
The fund’s creation follows a settlement between the Trump administration and the IRS, in which the agency agreed to “forever bar” audits of Trump’s past tax returns. In exchange, Trump and his two oldest sons will receive a formal apology but no direct payout.
Legal experts and former DOJ officials have questioned the legality of the fund, noting that Article I of the Constitution grants Congress sole authority over federal spending. The Justice Department has not commented on the constitutional objections.
Justice Connection, which has previously organized protests against what it sees as politicization of the Justice Department, said the projection was a call to restore the department’s traditional role as an impartial arbiter of the law.
