A new policy put forward by the Department of Justice limits the ability of state bar associations to launch complaints against DOJ attorneys. According to the proposal, the DOJ will “have the right to review the allegations in the first instance and shall request that the bar disciplinary authority suspend any parallel investigations until the completion of the Department’s review.”
“If finalized as proposed, 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 without a complaint having been filed, the Attorney General will have the right to review the complaint and the allegations in the first instance,” the proposal explains.
Should state bar authorities “refuse” the Attorney General’s request, the DOJ “shall take appropriate action to prevent the bar disciplinary authorities from interfering with the Attorney General’s review of the allegations.”
The DOJ noted in its proposal that the complaint and investigation process has been “weaponized” by political activists. “Even more troubling than the recent spate of State bar complaints is the willingness of some State bar disciplinary authorities to give credence to such complaints,” the notice criticizes. “Recently, for example, certain State bar disciplinary authorities have undertaken investigations of Department attorneys without notifying and coordinating with [the Office of Professional Responsibility] OPR.”
The “unprecedented weaponization” of the process risks “chilling the zealous advocacy by Department attorneys on behalf of the United States, its agencies, and its officers.”
