Trump Justice Department aims to limit ethics probes into its lawyers

[Eugene]

Source: Reuters

Trump Justice Department aims to limit ethics probes into its lawyers

By Andrew Goudsward
Wed, March 4, 2026 at 1:43 PM EST
2 min read

WASHINGTON, March 4 (Reuters) - The U.S. Justice Department is seeking to constrain ethics investigations conducted at the state level into alleged misconduct by its lawyers, according to a proposed rule submitted ‌on Wednesday that would shield prosecutors pursuing President Donald Trump's agenda.

The proposal would give the U.S. attorney ‌general the right to review misconduct allegations against current or former Justice Department attorneys and request that disciplinary authorities at the state level suspend ​their investigations.

That would mean that the attorney general, by dragging out such a review, could stall any such investigation.

The proposal takes aim at the actions of bar associations and similar professional organizations, not government entities, that investigate alleged unethical conduct by lawyers and consider actions such as disbarment, which involves revoking a license to practice law.

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Read more: https://www.yahoo.com/news/articles/trump-justice-department-aims-limit-184237447.html

[LetMyPeopleVote]

1. Bloomberg Law-Trump DOJ Pushes to Sideline State Bar Ethics Investigations

Many of the experienced DOJ attorneys have left or been fired and the ones left are not necessarily the brightest. Bondi has had to hire some real idiots to pursue trump's demands.

Link to tweet

https://news.bloomberglaw.com/us-law-week/trump-doj-pushes-to-sideline-state-bar-ethics-investigations

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 review is completed.

If the DOJ finds no violation, that blocks the state from investigating the alleged infraction. And �should the relevant bar disciplinary authorities refuse the Attorney General�s request, the Department shall take appropriate action to prevent the bar disciplinary authorities from interfering with the Attorney General�s review of the allegations,� the proposed regulation states.

The regulation and discipline of attorneys is a job for the Bar Association of each state. Lawyers are regulated and disciplined by their state bar association. trump is ordering the DOJ to pursue meritless acts of vengeance and the attorneys who pursue these actions need to be subject to state bar discipline