The Department of Justice
Summary
The government's lawyer and its police ran on $36.1 billion and 106,573 positions in FY2026 -- about $105.49 per U.S. resident -- while its Civil Division alone recovered $6.8 billion in False Claims Act settlements last year, the largest single-year total in the statute's history.
What is this organization?
What does it do?
's Civil Division alone recovered more than $6.8 billion in False Claims Act settlements and judgments in fiscal year 2025⧉ -- the largest single-year total in the statute's history -- as whistleblowers filed a record 1,297 qui tam lawsuits and the government opened 401 new fraud investigations⧉. That is one output among many: the same department also prosecutes federal crimes through its U.S. Attorneys, runs the federal prison system, and enforces antitrust, civil-rights, and environmental law nationwide.
What does it cost to run — money and people?
Congress enacted $36.1 billion in discretionary budget authority for DOJ in FY2026⧉, funding 106,573 direct-funded positions⧉ department-wide -- agents, attorneys, correctional officers, and support staff combined. That figure held essentially flat with FY2025 even though DOJ's own FY2026 request had proposed cutting the budget 7.0 percent, to $33.6 billion⧉. Measured against the Census Bureau's 341,784,857 U.S. residents⧉ as of July 2025, 's FY2026 enacted budget works out to about $105.49 per person.
View data as table
| FY2025 Enacted | 36,108 | $36.1B |
|---|---|---|
| FY2026 original Request | 33,563 | $33.6B -- the 7.0% cut DOJ initially proposed |
| FY2026 Enacted | 36,056 | $36.1B -- Congress kept it flat with FY2025 instead |
| FY2027 Request | 40,755 | $40.8B, +13.0% over FY2026 Enacted |
Why is it good for society?
The mechanism is enforcement with teeth: the False Claims Act lets sue on the government's behalf for treble damages, and its qui tam provision lets whistleblowers share in what they help recover. That combination is why settlements and judgments have returned more than $85 billion to the Treasury since Congress strengthened the law in 1986⧉ -- money that would otherwise have stayed with the contractors, providers, and grantees who billed the government falsely. A single department empowered to prosecute fraud nationwide, rather than 50 separate state systems chasing federal money on their own, is what makes recoveries like FY2025's possible at all.
- 's FY2026 enacted discretionary budget authority ($36.1 billion / $36,056M and 106,573 positions) works out to about $105.49 per U.S. resident -- and came in $2.5 billion above the Department's own original FY2026 request, which had proposed a 7.0% cut.
- In FY2025 alone, 's Civil Division recovered $6.8 billion in False Claims Act settlements and judgments -- the largest single year on record -- as whistleblowers filed 1,297 qui tam suits, pushing cumulative recoveries since 1986 past $85 billion.
Your handles.* To report fraud against a federal program or contract -- the pipeline behind the False Claims Act recoveries above -- use the Civil Division's Report Fraud Against the Federal Government page. To report a civil-rights violation, file through the Civil Rights Division's online complaint portal, which tracks your submission's status.
Sources(4) ▾
- U.S. Department of Justice, Justice Management Division, U.S. Department of Justice FY 2027 Budget and Performance Summary, Section I: Summary of Request and Performance (2026-03-31) — 's own FY2027 congressional budget submission, Section I -- source for the Department's founding legislation (Judiciary Act of 1789; Act to establish the Department of Justice, 1870), its Robert F. Kennedy Building headquarters (p.2), and the 'Budget at a Glance' page (p.3) giving the FY2026 enacted discretionary budget authority ($36.1 billion / $36,056 million) and enacted direct-funded positions (106,573). Wayback capture unavailable: no existing snapshot, and a single Save Page Now probe at access time did not complete before this record was sealed; direct file link used as the capture per non-blocking hazard handling. justice.gov · original document
- U.S. Department of Justice, Justice Management Division, U.S. Department of Justice FY 2026 Budget and Performance Summary, Section I: Summary of Request and Performance (2025-06-01) — 's own FY2026 congressional budget submission (the prior budget cycle's document, filed June 2025) -- source for the FY2025 Enacted discretionary budget authority ($36.1 billion / $36,108 million) and the Department's ORIGINAL FY2026 budget REQUEST ($33.6 billion / $33,563 million), both from the 'Department 2026 Budget at a Glance' page (internal p.3). Used alongside doc-doj-fy27-summary's FY2026 ENACTED figure ($36,056 million) to show that the requested cut did not survive enactment. justice.gov · original document
- U.S. Department of Justice, Office of Public Affairs, False Claims Act Settlements and Judgments Exceed $6.8B in Fiscal Year 2025 (2026-01-16) — 's own annual announcement of its False Claims Act enforcement results for the fiscal year ended Sept. 30, 2025 -- source for this entry's workload figures (the $6.8 billion in FY2025 settlements and judgments, the highest single-year total in FCA history; the record 1,297 qui tam suits filed; 401 investigations opened; and the more-than-$85-billion cumulative recovery total since 1986). Wayback capture unavailable: no existing snapshot, and a single Save Page Now probe at access time did not complete before this record was sealed; direct URL used as the capture per non-blocking hazard handling. justice.gov · original document
- U.S. Census Bureau, Population Division, Monthly Population Estimates for the United States: April 1, 2020 to December 1, 2026 (Vintage 2025 national total time series) (2026-06-01) — The Census Bureau's own Vintage 2025 national population time-series table -- source for the July 1, 2025 U.S. resident population estimate (341,784,857) used as this entry's per-resident denominator. Wayback capture unavailable: no existing snapshot, and a single Save Page Now probe at access time did not complete before this record was sealed; direct Census data-file link used as the capture per non-blocking hazard handling. www2.census.gov · original document
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The Department of Justice traces to the Judiciary Act of 1789⧉, which created the Office of the Attorney General with a staff of two. Congress made it a full department with an 1870 act establishing the Department of Justice⧉. Today the Attorney General is the government's chief litigator and chief law-enforcement officer, overseeing roughly 40 components -- the , DEA, , the federal prison system, and the 93 U.S. Attorneys among them -- out of the Robert F. Kennedy Building in Washington, DC⧉.