The Justice Department is seeking to empower Attorney General Pam Bondi to suspend state bar ethics investigations into current and former DOJ lawyers—a step outside attorneys quickly criticized as an illegal intervention into state-run processes.
The proposed regulation, posted in the Federal Register Wednesday, would aim to halt state-level ethics proceedings against DOJ lawyers while the department conducts its own review, which would diminish local bar associations’ power. It comes as Bondi, members of her leadership team, and prosecutors involved in immigration matters face complaints probing DOJ misconduct in states where they’re licensed to practice law.
The department unveiled the unexpected policy by saying the change is necessary in light of the “weaponization” of the bar complaint process.
If finalized after a public comment period, “whenever a third party files a bar complaint alleging that a current or former Department attorney violated an ethics rule while engaging in that attorney’s duties for the Department, or whenever bar disciplinary authorities open an investigation into such allegations,” the attorney general “will have the right to review the complaint and the allegations in the first instance,” the proposal states.
An attorney general who decides to exercise this right—or a designated official—will then notify the state bar agency and the lawyer facing the complaint and “request” that the disciplinary authorities pause the investigation until the...
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