Former DOJ Employee Jeffrey Clark Seeks Federal Court Oversight Over DC Law License Hearing

Former Justice Department attorney Jeffrey B. Clarke has defended Washington’s legal license to hold it in federal court, arguing that those responsible for punishing Washington, D.C. attorneys are wielding too much power. is fighting to move his disciplinary hearing to federal court.

Clark’s attorney, Charles Burnham, announced Monday that he wants Clark’s legal battle to take place in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia rather than the Washington, D.C. court system, citing the Washington State Bar Association. A disciplinary attorney, Hamilton Fox III, claimed to be pursuing a lawsuit against Clark. Clark due to anti-Trump bias.

A member of the DC Bar Association since 1997, Clark faces sanctions and even loses his bar license for advising former President Donald Trump on the 2020 election.

“The head of the Washington, D.C. Disciplinary Lawyer’s Office has given advice Clark believes he gave former President Trump when he led two of the DOJ’s seven litigation divisions in late 2020 and early 2021. This is a flagrant misuse of the disciplinary function: state bar associations, not to mention local DC bar associations, have rejected advice given by presidential advisers or purely circulated within the halls of the Justice Department. We have jurisdiction to oversee,” Burnham said.

He argues that because DC contains more government lawyers than any other jurisdiction, Mr. Fox would have too much power if he could control who is licensed to practice law in DC. did.

“If this power seizure by the DC Barrister is successful, the head of the DC Disciplinary Law Office, a local government official, will transform into the most powerful attorney in the country, give him a permanent supervisory role, It gives veto power to the best lawyers, federal advisers,” Burnham said.

It’s the latest notable backlash against Mr. Fox, who has called for punishment of former New York City Mayor Rudolph W. Giuliani, who served as Mr. Trump’s lawyer.

Fox did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Clark’s request to take the case to federal court.

In July, he claimed that Trump indicted a former DOJ official instead of appointing Clark as Acting Attorney General in an effort to reverse Biden’s 2020 victory.

“Defendant sought to engage in conduct that materially interferes with the administration of justice,” Fox said in a court filing.

Fox plans to hold a disciplinary hearing against Giuliani in December. Giuliani also alleges that he violated attorney ethics on behalf of Trump in a Pennsylvania lawsuit challenging the 2020 election results in a battleground state.

Other pro-Trump lawyers who challenged the 2020 election results are also facing disciplinary action across the country.

The 65 Project, a legal group aimed at filing ethical complaints against lawyers who helped Trump’s campaign in court, has filed complaints in several states and most recently in the Pennsylvania election. It is filing complaints against 15 former and current red state attorneys general who sided with Texas in the war. 2020 results.

The group also targeted another DOJ attorney, Kenneth Kurkowski, who the group said had worked with Clark in challenging the election results.

65 Project also filed a lawsuit against Jenna Ellis, who worked with Giuliani to represent Trump.