After the election of 2002 Donner was appointed as Informateur for the cabinet formation of 2002. Following the cabinet formation Donner was appointed as Minister of Justice in the Cabinet Balkenende I, taking office on 22 July 2002. The Cabinet Balkenende I fell just four months later on 16 October 2002 and continued to serve in a demissionary capacity. After the election of 2003 Donner continued as Minister of Justice in the Cabinet Balkenende II, taking office on 27 May 2003. The Cabinet Balkenende II fell on 30 June 2006 after the Democrats 66 had lost confidence in the functioning of Minister of Integration and Asylum Affairs Rita Verdonk and continued to serve in a demissionary capacity until first cabinet formation of 2006 when it was replaced by the caretaker Cabinet Balkenende III with Donner remaining as Minister of Justice, taking office on 7 July 2006. On 21 September 2006 Donner and Minister of Housing, Spatial Planning and the Environment Sybilla Dekker resigned following the conclusions of a Dutch Safety Board report into the fire at a detention center at Amsterdam Airport Schiphol that carried political responsibility. Donner was elected as a Member of the House of Representatives after the election of 2006, taking office on 30 November 2006. Following the second cabinet formation of 2006 Donner was appointed as Minister of Social Affairs and Employment in the Cabinet Balkenende IV, taking office on 22 February 2007. The Cabinet Balkenende IV fell on 20 February 2010 after tensions in the coalition over the extension of the Dutch involvement in the Task Force Urozgan mission of the International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) in Afghanistan and continued to serve in a demissionary capacity. In March 2010 Donner announced that he wouldn't stand for the election of 2010. Following the cabinet formation of 2010 Donner was appointed as Minister of the Interior and Kingdom Relations in the Cabinet Rutte I, taking office on 14 October 2010.