Justice Department Sues DC Bar to Block Disciplinary Proceedings Against Former Trump Official Jeffrey Clark

The Department of Justice filed a complaint in federal court against the DC Bar on Wednesday, accusing it of engaging in a blatantly partisan effort to disbar and discipline current and former Trump administration attorneys. Associate Attorney General Stanley Woodward filed the 25-page complaint.

The DOJ asked the DC court to nullify the bar’s findings of fault against Jeffrey Clark, issue an injunction against the disciplinary board and order payment of federal attorneys’ fees.

“To permit these proceedings is to allow state bar authorities to control the Executive Branch. That is not the law,” Woodward wrote in the complaint.

Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche stated, “As our complaint and history make clear, the DC Bar has long acted as a blatantly partisan arm of leftist causes. ” Jeffrey Clark served as assistant attorney general at the DOJ in 2020. He provided advice to President Trump in the wake of the 2020 election on ways to probe potentially fraudulent votes, including recommendations in a December 2020 letter that called for launching state-level investigations into election fraud.

The DC bar initiated disciplinary proceedings to strip Jeffrey Clark of his law license. A committee of the DC Bar’s Board of Professional Responsibility issued a preliminary ruling in August 2024 suggesting that Jeffrey Clark’s law license should be suspended for two years. That ruling was appealed to the DC Court of Appeals, which has yet to issue a ruling.

Three former US attorneys general, including Bill Barr, submitted an amicus brief in September 2025 noting that Clark’s legal suggestions were never intended to be released publicly. New York Post reported that the brief warned punishing him for those suggestions would set a dangerous precedent. The suit names Jeffrey Clark as a subject of the DC Bar's actions.

In a May 4 post on X, Clark indicated that the DC Bar’s approach used against him could be weaponized against other DOJ officials, such as Blanche. Former interim DC US Attorney Ed Martin has also been targeted by the DC Bar for sending a letter to Georgetown University Law School regarding DEI initiatives in its coursework.

The DOJ complaint named members of the DC Bar including Hamilton Fox and Jack Metzler, the latter of whom posted dozens of ideological messages demonstrating bias, according to the filing.

New York Post reported that those messages included statements claiming it was unethical to engage with anti-vaxxers and people who claim there is a debate about birthright citizenship, both issues taken up by Trump’s DOJ. The complaint marks the first major legal action by the DOJ under President Trump to challenge state bar proceedings against former administration lawyers.

Clark’s December 2020 letter and subsequent advice formed the basis of the disciplinary case that has now reached the DC Court of Appeals without a final decision.