The Los Angeles County Bar Association (LACBA) issues the following statement in response to the U.S. Department of Justice’s proposed regulation to supersede state bars’ disciplinary authority over Department of Justice attorneys.

The U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) has published a proposed rule in the Federal Register that would allow the Attorney General of the United States to intervene in cases of state bar complaints and misconduct allegations against DOJ attorneys. The proposed regulation would allow the Attorney General to request that such state bar proceedings be stayed pending the DOJ’s own internal review of such allegations. The proposed rule also would empower the Attorney General to prevent state bars’ disciplinary authorities from interfering with the Attorney General’s review.

LACBA joins the Conference of Chief Justices and state and local bar associations around the country in opposing this proposed regulation. It has long been the exclusive purview of the state bars of the several states to license lawyers operating within their jurisdictions and to regulate lawyers’ conduct. That authority has always extended equally to government lawyers, including those employed by the DOJ.

The proposed regulation would deprive the bars of the several states of key aspects of their licensing authority over lawyers for the federal government operating within their jurisdictions. In particular, it would deprive state bars of their plenary authority to assess whether an attorney has violated his or her ethical duties and to impose appropriate discipline for such breaches. Instead, the proposed regulation would vest that important authority in the U.S. Attorney General, a political appointee, by empowering the Attorney General to halt all such proceedings against DOJ attorneys.

The proposed regulation threatens to politicize the otherwise apolitical questions of attorney ethics and discipline. It also would allow the client of DOJ lawyers—the federal government—to decide for itself whether its attorneys should be disciplined for improper or unethical conduct in its service. No client, public or private, should have the power to insulate its attorneys from discipline for improper or unethical conduct. Such a rule would be antithetical to the orderly administration of justice and to the rule of law.