Attorney General Jennifer Davenport co-led a coalition of 22 Attorneys General in filing a comment letter opposing a proposed rule by the Department of Justice (DOJ) that seeks to limit state bar disciplinary proceedings related to alleged ethical misconduct by DOJ attorneys.
If the proposed rule were adopted, the Justice Department may be able to request that state bar organizations pause any investigation or disciplinary proceeding involving DOJ attorneys. States that decline such a request may be subject to undefined retaliatory actions by the federal government.
“Attorneys must be held to the highest standards of professional and ethical conduct, not because of where they work, but because of what they represent,” said Attorney General Davenport. “The Department of Justice is an institution built on the tradition that those who wield the power of the law must do so with unwavering integrity, independence, and fidelity to the truth. This proposed rule seeks to shamefully lower that standard. In New Jersey, we work every day to build public trust in the legal system.”
The licensing and regulation of lawyers has been handled by the States since the Nation’s founding. Federal law specifies that DOJ attorneys are subject to State laws and rules in the same manner as other attorneys in that State. This comment letter seeks to hold DOJ attorneys to that basic standard and pushes back on DOJ’s attempts to circumvent that process.
Attorney General Davenport was joined in co-leading the letter by the attorneys general of Minnesota, the District of Columbia, and Colorado. The letter was also joined by the attorneys general of Arizona, California, Connecticut, Delaware, Hawaii, Illinois, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Nevada, New Mexico, New York, North Carolina, Oregon, Rhode Island, Virginia, and Washington.
