All articles tagged with #dc bar
The Trump administration is suing D.C.’s attorney-discipline authorities over a recommendation to disbar Jeffrey Clark, a former Justice Department official who was found to have violated ethics in his push to overturn the 2020 election. The suit is part of a broader effort by the Trump administration to push back on ethics investigations into federal government lawyers.
The Justice Department filed a complaint against DC Disciplinary Counsel Hamilton Fox III, the DC Office of Disciplinary Counsel, and the DC Court of Appeals Board on Professional Responsibility, accusing them of weaponizing bar discipline to regulate federal government actions and seeking to halt the DC Bar’s prosecution of former Acting Attorney General Jeff Clark over internal deliberations related to 2020 election fraud; the action supports President Trump’s executive order to end the weaponization of the federal government and follows related DOJ filings and statements in other cases.
The D.C. Bar has filed two ethics misconduct counts against Ed Martin, a senior DOJ official tied to the Trump administration, alleging he conducted an improper pressure campaign against Georgetown University Law Center after a February letter criticizing the school’s DEI programs. The complaint accuses him of violating his oath, engaging in unauthorized ex parte communications with a judge, and taking actions that could seriously interfere with the administration of justice. A potential sanction could be disbarment, though such proceedings are lengthy. The case grew from an ethics complaint by a retired judge and comes amid broader debates over using bar associations to scrutinize Trump-era officials; the DOJ has criticized the bar as politically motivated. Martin previously served as U.S. attorney for D.C. and later as the pardon attorney in the DOJ.
The D.C. Bar filed ethics charges against DOJ pardon attorney Ed Martin for a February letter to Georgetown Law that threatened sanctions over its DEI policies, alleging he used government power to punish a viewpoint and engaged in improper ex parte communications with a judge.
Diane Seltzer won a record-turnout election to lead the D.C. Bar Association, defeating Brad Bondi amid a highly politicized and contentious race that highlighted broader tensions within the American legal system.
The D.C. Bar’s Board on Professional Responsibility has recommended that Rudy Giuliani be disbarred for his actions in Pennsylvania following the 2020 presidential election, citing violations of professional conduct. The case now moves to the D.C. Court of Appeals for a final decision. Giuliani's spokesperson criticized the recommendation as politically motivated.
A D.C. appeals court panel ruled that the attempt by D.C. bar authorities to subpoena documents from former Justice Department attorney Jeff Clark, potentially leading to his disbarment, would violate his Fifth Amendment rights. Clark is facing criminal charges in Georgia for his involvement in Trump's efforts to overturn the 2020 election. The court panel agreed that the subpoena would force Clark to effectively testify against his will, violating his Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination. This ruling is the latest setback for bar authorities attempting to discipline Clark for his role in Trump's schemes.
A legal ethics committee in Washington has recommended that Rudolph W. Giuliani, former lawyer for Donald J. Trump, be disbarred for his attempts to overturn the 2020 election. The committee stated that Giuliani's actions had undermined the integrity of the election, destabilized democracy, and caused lasting damage. While acknowledging his past accomplishments, the panel emphasized that his misconduct in this case was unparalleled and called for the revocation of his law license in Washington, D.C. Giuliani's license has already been suspended in New York.
A federal judge has rejected Jeffrey Clark's effort to transfer disciplinary proceedings against him to federal court, clearing the way for the D.C. Bar to resume proceedings against the former assistant attorney general. Clark, a top ally in Donald Trump's bid to undermine the results of the 2020 presidential election, had tied up those proceedings for nearly eight months. D.C. Bar authorities charged Clark in July 2022 with engaging in "dishonest" conduct and seeking to "seriously interfere with the administration of justice" when he embarked on a weekslong effort to help Trump sow doubt about the results of the 2020 election.