In the meantime, you end up with a lot of very pissed off federal judges - burning off decades of DOJ 'goodwill,'

And don't forget the follow on effect of pissed off Federal judges - pissed off rank and file DOJ lawyers. Pissed off enough to resign rather than put their law licenses at risk trying to defend their clients (like ICE and CBP) who aren't following judges' orders.

In the short run, DOJ is seeing a slight shortage of lawyers. In the longer run, DOJ is losing its appeal as a destination for freshly minted lawyers. That's going to lead to long-term shortages of lawyers coming into the job. It's also likely to lead to lesser quality lawyers in the DOJ. Instead of attracting some of the best young lawyers, it may become the destination for lawyers who can't get work elsewhere. I'm sure young lawyers can get paid more working in private practice than the DOJ. But DOJ has a lot of prestige. Lose that prestige, and you lose the main reason to accept the lower pay.

--Peter