The Justice Department today filed a complaint against 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 over their improper use of bar discipline to regulate the official actions of Federal Government attorneys. The filing advances President Donald J. Trump’s Executive Order Ending the Weaponization of the Federal Government and Presidential Memorandum on Preventing Abuses of the Legal System and the Federal Courts. Specifically, the complaint seeks to nullify the D.C. Bar’s unlawful prosecution of former Assistant Attorney General Jeff Clark based on internal deliberations relating to potential fraud in the 2020 Presidential Election, which remains the subject of litigation nearly six years later.
“As our complaint and history make clear, the DC Bar has long acted as a blatantly partisan arm of leftist causes. No more,” said Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche.
“President Trump promised to put an end to the weaponization of the legal process, and today’s lawsuit against the D.C. Bar makes good on that promise,” said Associate Attorney General Stanley Woodward. “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.”
Just last week, the Justice Department filed a statement of interest in support of former interim United States Attorney Ed Martin, who is seeking to have the D.C. Bar’s unlawful prosecution of him heard in a neutral Federal tribunal.
As three former Attorneys General recently recognized, the D.C. Bar’s efforts to discipline Justice Department attorneys “for making recommendations, factual assertions, and providing legal advice during confidential internal agency deliberations on law enforcement and sensitive public policy” are “improper and constitutionally impermissible.”
Associate Attorney General Stanley Woodward filed the complaint. The complaint is available here.
