A former Justice Department pardon attorney, Lisa Oyer, has filed a lawsuit against the department, claiming she was fired after refusing to recommend the restoration of actor Mel Gibson’s gun rights. Oyer alleges that in March 2025, she was terminated following her refusal to comply with a request from then-Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche’s staff to add Gibson to a list of individuals for whom the department would recommend reinstating gun rights. Gibson had previously been convicted of domestic violence, which led to the loss of his gun privileges. Oyer stated she refused to recommend the restoration of his rights due to public safety concerns. Blanche has denied her claims, telling a Senate confirmation hearing that he had no knowledge of the situation or the letter related to Gibson at the time of her firing. Oyer’s lawsuit is part of a broader trend of Justice Department employees challenging the legality of terminations under the Trump administration. She claims that the Merit Systems Protection Board, which handles employment disputes within the federal government, has left her case in a prolonged state of limbo, offering no resolution. Oyer filed her lawsuit in a federal court in Washington, seeking a court order that would declare her termination unlawful and reinstate her to federal service. She emphasized that her case is not only about her own situation but also about the rights of all public servants to uphold the law without political pressure. In her lawsuit, Oyer argues that her firing violated civil service protections and her First Amendment rights, as she claims she was dismissed in part due to her political affiliations. She states that she was fired for refusing to prioritize political loyalty over her professional duties, and that her termination was a direct result of her refusal to perform a favor for her superiors and President Trump. Oyer’s legal team asserts that her removal was an overreach, undermining the principle that public servants should act in the public interest rather than political favor. Blanche denied Oyer’s claims, stating that her termination was due to a range of reasons, including decisions she made as a pardon attorney in the months before President Biden left office. These decisions, he said, were inconsistent with President Trump’s authority, such as recommending the commutation of every person on federal death row. Biden had commuted the sentences of 37 individuals on death row, but left the sentences of three high-profile offenders intact. Oyer had testified against Blanche’s nomination, stating that his explanation for her firing—claiming it was unrelated to her work on commutations—was new and had not been previously mentioned. She described the claim as having “materialized out of thin air.”