The Justice Department on Wednesday sued the District of Columbia Bar in federal court, seeking to halt its disciplinary proceedings against two Trump administration lawyers. The lawsuit asserts that the bar’s investigation of Jeffrey Clark and the ethics charge against Ed Martin are tainted by political bias and exceed the bar’s legal authority.
“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,” Associate Attorney General Stanley Woodward said in a statement announcing the suit. “Federal attorneys will once again be free to share their candid legal advice with their bosses and colleagues.”
The complaint, filed in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, argues that the Office of Disciplinary Counsel and the Board on Professional Responsibility violated the separation of powers. It contends that those D.C. institutions have no authority to decide whether a federal government attorney — including the interim U.S. attorney for D.C. — is upholding his oath of office or whether his official acts comport with the Constitution, according to the department.
Jeffrey Clark is a former acting assistant attorney general who was deeply involved in efforts to override President Joe Biden’s 2020 election victory. A disciplinary panel recommended that he be stripped of his law license. The lawsuit calls those proceedings “unlawful” and politically driven. Clark praised the suit on X, writing, “This is an important step to vindicate the separation of powers.”
The suit also challenges the bar’s charge against Ed Martin, a loyalist Trump appointee who now serves as the department’s pardon attorney. As interim U.S. attorney for D.C., Martin warned the dean of Georgetown Law School that his office would not hire the school’s students unless it eliminated diversity, equity and inclusion programs. The Office of Disciplinary Counsel filed a misconduct charge in March, but the department now asserts the bar has no authority over the official acts of the U.S. attorney.
To demonstrate alleged unequal treatment, the suit points to former FBI counsel Kevin Clinesmith, who pleaded guilty to altering an email during the Russia investigation. The Justice Department argues the bar was more lenient with Clinesmith than with Clark.
The lawsuit represents a sharp escalation of the conflict between the Justice Department and the D.C. bar, following reports that the department earlier filed a statement of interest supporting Martin in his ethics case. No immediate comment was available from the D.C. Board on Professional Responsibility.