Bondi Demands DOJ Exempt From Ethics Oversight

TL;DR

Bondi wants to control state bar complaints against DOJ lawyers before mass contempt orders expose their unethical conduct in immigration cases.

Key Points

• 1.Bondi published a proposed rule change to 28 CFR Part 77 giving the AG "first review" of any bar complaint filed against current or former DOJ lawyers, with vague authority to block state bars from proceeding.
• 2.The legal basis is almost nonexistent: Congress passed the McDade Amendment in 2001 (28 USC §530B) explicitly requiring federal lawyers to follow state ethics rules, after courts struck down similar power grabs by AGs Thornberg (1989) and Reno (1994).
• 3.The Supreme Court ruled in 1979 that lawyer licensing and discipline has belonged "exclusively to the states" since the founding of the republic — nothing in the McDade Amendment transferred that power to the AG.
• 4.The same argument Bondi is making was already tried by Jeff Clark (DOJ lawyer who helped plan the 2020 election overturn) to block his DC Bar investigation — and the DC Circuit Court rejected it outright.
• 5.The real motive: federal courts have logged 97 violated orders in one Minnesota district in January alone, 113 more in February, and ~70 in New Jersey, with judges now requiring sworn declarations naming specific officials to hold in contempt.
• 6.DOJ is critically understaffed — the Minnesota US Attorney's Office has lost half its lawyers in two years — forcing Bondi to borrow JAG Corps officers with no federal court experience, like Matthew Isahara, who was handed 100+ habeas cases and fined $500/day for contempt.
• 7.Lindsay Halligan's bar complaint saga illustrates state bars' weakness: the Virginia Bar said it couldn't act, the Florida Bar erroneously claimed it was investigating then retracted — yet Bondi still fears even this toothless oversight enough to attempt a federal takeover.