The U.S. Justice Department has determined that multiple layers of removal restrictions shielding administrative law judges are unconstitutional and will no longer defend them in court, top officials said on Thursday.

The Justice Department said a law protecting the officials from arbitrary removal is an unconstitutional intrusion on presidential authority.

In a Feb. 20 letter, the acting solicitor general wrote that the “multiple layers of removal protections” for administrative law judges, or ALJs, constrained presidential authority in violation of Article II of the U.