Some lawyers hope that Bar associations, which have themselves been targeted by Trump, will come to their aid.
With the Trump administration warning career lawyers to follow orders even if they have ethical qualms, pressure is building on professional legal associations to take a stance against efforts to upend long-standing norms of public service.
The effort by lawyers inside and outside of the government comes as Trump, in one of his initial executive orders, issued a warning to state and local bar associations suggesting they could be targeted for investigation over their diversity programs. Lawyers who spoke with NBC News said that order came across as a threat to keep quiet or risk consequences.
As of Tuesday, 16 attorneys signed a letter to leaders at the American Bar Association, the biggest group representing lawyers in the country, calling for it to “take a clear stand against the lawless actions of the Trump administration.”
“The recent actions of this administration have repeatedly violated the Constitution, legal precedent, and the professional rules to which we, as attorneys, are bound,” they wrote, pointing to efforts to unilaterally withhold federal funding, allowing billionaire Elon Musk to access sensitive government databases and various workforce initiatives that may run afoul of civil service protections and contracts, among other actions. “The American Bar Association, as the preeminent professional organization of attorneys in this country, must not remain a passive observer. We urge you to take immediate and concrete steps to fulfill your mission and defend the rule of law.”
Bar associations, which are independent of the government, often handle attorney licensing and can sanction lawyers for misconduct. One high-ranking attorney at a federal agency said such a warning, particularly from state bar associations in places such as Virginia, Maryland and Washington, D.C. — where many attorneys at federal agencies are licensed — would be particularly impactful for career agency attorneys, such as those in offices of general counsel, who are looking for guidance on how to handle ethical quandaries as Trump moves to rapidly implement his agenda.
That attorney said career lawyers throughout the government have so far mostly chosen to stay silent in the face of these directives, which has added to the confusion civil servants feel about whether the orders or workforce regulations they are told to comply with are lawful.
Emails that have been made public show that higher-ups at some federal agencies have communicated with subordinates that these directives, like the “deferred resignation” program, are lawful, but this attorney said they have not explained how that conclusion was reached.
“So all it is, is ‘do it because they told you to do it and they told us to tell you to do it, and we don’t have anything else to tell you,’” this person said. “That’s not close to what the law requires, it’s not close to what is required of us as officers of the court, and it’s not close to what our true clients — the American people — need from us.”
The attorney said it is incumbent upon state bar associations to offer a public reminder to these lawyers of their “ethical obligations,” including professional sanctions they could face for ignoring them. This would give government attorneys pause in administering or greenlighting some of these orders, at least until courts rule on their legality.
USA: Government lawyers with ethics concerns look for help amid Trump crackdown
