What they're not telling you: # DOJ SUES DC BAR OVER ITS PROSECUTION OF FORMER TRUMP LAWYER, CALLS IT "PARTISAN ARM OF LEFTIST CAUSES" The federal government can now weaponize constitutional supremacy doctrine to shield executive branch officials from state bar discipline, according to a May 13 DOJ complaint that exposes how institutional power operates beyond public accountability mechanisms. The Department of Justice filed suit against the D.C. Disciplinary Counsel Hamilton P.
# THE TAKE The DOJ's lawsuit exposes a fundamental structural problem nobody wants naming: bar associations operate as unaccountable private cartels with state-delegated monopoly power over professional licensing. They're neither government agencies bound by constitutional constraints nor truly private organizations. When the DC Bar prosecutes Trump's lawyers, it does so without FOIA obligations, discovery requirements, or appellate transparency that would attach to equivalent DOJ proceedings. This isn't partisan bias—it's worse. It's *unfettered* bias baked into a system that grants monopolistic enforcement authority to organizations answerable to nobody. The real scandal isn't whether the DC Bar tilts left (it does). It's that we've permitted quasi-governmental bodies to conduct quasi-judicial proceedings against professionals without the procedural safeguards we demand from actual courts. Whether you're prosecuting Trump's lawyers or mine, the architecture itself is corrupted.
What the Documents Show
Office of Disciplinary Counsel, the D.C. Court of Appeals, and the District of Columbia itself, alleging they acted as a "partisan arm of leftist causes" by prosecuting former Assistant Attorney General Jeff Clark. The DOJ claims the disciplinary proceedings violated constitutional law and advanced President Donald Trump's stated directive to end "weaponization of the federal government." Clark faced discipline after drafting a letter—never issued—examining potential fraud in the 2020 presidential election while serving in the executive branch. The complaint's constitutional argument hinges on preemption doctrine and the supremacy clause, asserting that state bar authorities cannot regulate federal executive officials for actions taken during discretionary duties. According to the DOJ, the D.C.
Follow the Money
Bar improperly punished Clark based on "disagreement with Mr. Clark's performance of his discretionary Executive Branch duties, particularly with respect to a predecisional and deliberative document about potential election fraud in Georgia." The complaint emphasizes that this draft letter was never issued and remains subject to ongoing criminal investigation and civil litigation. The DOJ argues that allowing state-level discipline of federal executives creates a dangerous precedent where "state bar authorities can exert control over the executive branch." What mainstream reporting downplays is the profound institutional question buried in this dispute. Professional licensing bodies—state bars, medical boards, engineering councils—derive their authority from state law and are theoretically independent from federal control. The DOJ's argument inverts that relationship, positioning the executive branch as immune from professional accountability when claiming acts fall within "discretionary duties." This doctrine, if adopted, would fundamentally alter how professional standards apply across government. A sitting federal official could theoretically claim immunity from disciplinary review for nearly any action framed as deliberative or predecisional work product.
What Else We Know
Board on Professional Responsibility have not responded substantively to the complaint. Their silence reflects the complexity of challenging a federal agency backed by presidential authority and sophisticated constitutional argumentation. The case hinges on whether executive discretion supersedes professional conduct standards—a question that extends far beyond one lawyer's discipline to encompass the enforceability of ethics rules against government officials generally. For ordinary citizens, this litigation signals a structural shift in institutional checks. If state licensing boards lose power to discipline federal officials, enforcement of professional ethics collapses precisely at the point where power concentrates most dangerously. Bar discipline, despite its flaws, remains one mechanism preventing lawyers and other professionals from deploying their expertise to advance illegal schemes.
Primary Sources
- Source: ZeroHedge
- Category: Surveillance State
- Cross-reference independently — don't take our word for it.
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