DOJ accuses DC Bar authority of weaponizing discipline against federal lawyers
The Department of Justice on Wednesday said it filed a complaint against Washington’s attorney disciplinary system for allegedly unfairly targeting federal lawyers and improperly intruding into sensitive executive branch decision-making.
The complaint, filed in federal court, targets the District of Columbia’s Bar disciplinary authorities, which oversee ethics investigations involving attorneys licensed in the nation’s capital. D.C. Disciplinary Counsel Hamilton P. Fox III, the D.C. Office of Disciplinary Counsel, and the D.C. Court of Appeals Board on Professional Responsibility were the subjects of the complaint.
The DOJ alleges the D.C. Bar’s disciplinary system has engaged in a “pattern of discriminatory enforcement” against current and former federal attorneys, particularly those serving in Republican administrations, while violating constitutional protections tied to executive branch independence.
Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche said the complaint is the result of a history of the D.C. Bar acting as a “blatantly partisan arm of leftist causes.”
Associate Attorney General Stanley Woodward said in a statement that the lawsuit was intended to stop what the department called a “weaponization of the legal process” against government lawyers.
“The D.C. Bar will no longer be permitted to probe sensitive Executive Branch deliberations and target Executive Branch officials with whom they happen to politically disagree, and Federal attorneys will once again be free to share their candid legal advice with their bosses and colleagues,” Woodward said.
The filing comes amid a broader effort by the Trump administration to shield DOJ attorneys from outside ethics investigations.
In March, the department proposed a rule that would require state bar authorities to pause disciplinary inquiries involving current or former DOJ lawyers while the department conducts its own internal review first. The administration has increasingly clashed with D.C. disciplinary authorities over cases involving President Donald Trump’s allies and DOJ officials.
The complaint specifically references recent ethics proceedings against former interim U.S. attorney for the District of Columbia Ed Martin and former DOJ official Jeffrey Clark, both of whom faced scrutiny over actions tied to Trump-era legal and political disputes.
Martin, now serving as pardon attorney, was accused earlier this year of ethical misconduct related to a letter pressuring Georgetown University Law Center over diversity policies. Clark has faced disciplinary proceedings stemming from his role in efforts to challenge the results of the 2020 elections.
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