Trump’s Pardon Attorney, Ed Martin, Faces D.C. Bar Discipline for Banning Georgetown Law Grads From DOJ in Feud Over DEI

The disciplinary proceedings now faced by United States Pardon Attorney Ed Martin mark him as the latest attorney in the service of President Trump to face professional peril from left-leaning bar associations.The District of Columbia Bar announced on Tuesday that Mr. Martin, who formerly served as the interim United States Attorney for the nation’s capital, is formally accused of ethics violations. The probe stems from Mr. Martin’s statement last year that his office at the DOJ would not hire Georgetown Law alumni because of the school’s commitment to diversity, equity, and inclusion programs.Mr. Martin is the first major bar discipline proceeding against a high-profile administration official or attorney allied with Mr. Trump during the president’s second term. Last week the Florida Bar appeared to confirm that another erstwhile federal prosecutor, Lindsey Halligan, was under investigation. The Sunshine State guild, though, clarified that a liberal group had submitted a complaint against Ms. Halligan. She is not yet being probed.Mr. Martin’s adversary is the disciplinary counsel for the District of Columbia, Hamilton Fox, who has previously taught at Georgetown Law. He writes in a filing that Mr. Martin “used coercion to punish or suppress a disfavored viewpoint, the teaching and promotion of ‘DEI.’” He also alleges that Mr. Martin “demanded that Georgetown Law relinquish its free speech and religious rights in order to continue to obtain a benefit, employment opportunities for its students.”Mr. Fox concludes that Mr. Martin’s “conduct violated the First and Fifth Amendments to the Constitution of the United States.” A DOJ spokesman responds that the “DC Bar’s attempt to target and punish those serving President Trump while refusing to investigate or act against actual ethical violations that were committed by Biden and Obama administration attorneys is a clear indication of this partisan organization’s agenda.” Mr. Fox also alleges that Mr. Martin broke protocol by demanding that he be allowed to address the District of Columbia Court of Appeals directly about the possibility of disciplinary proceedings. Any professional sanctions — up to and including disbarment — would have to be approved by that tribunal. Mr. Martin wrote to the court to request a “face-to-face meeting with all of you to discuss this matter and find a way forward.” Mr. Martin’s time as the top federal prosecutor in the District of Columbia ended in May after the White House concluded that he lacked sufficient support in the Senate for confirmation. He was replaced by Judge Janine Pirro, who did secure confirmation. Mr. Martin was shifted over to the pardon role, and was initially also placed at the head of the Weaponization Working Group convened by Attorney General Pam Bondi. Mr. Martin has since been relieved of that final position in what was widely seen as a shakeup following the DOJ’s failure to effectively prosecute some of the president’s adversaries like New York’s attorney general, Letitia James and the former director of the FBI, James Comey. Both of those cases were brought by Ms. Halligan, and were dismissed when she was found to have been unconstitutionally appointed. That ruling is on appeal.The Times calls the complaint against Mr. Martin “a significant escalation in the efforts to use state and local bars to punish lawyers in the Trump administration for purported violations of ethics rules in pursuit of the president’s aims.” Before Mr. Martin joined the DOJ, he was an organizer at “Stop the Steal” rallies and worked on behalf of January 6 defendants. One of Mr. Trump’s first acts of his second term was to pardon some 1,500 of those defendants.Mr. Martin, who goes by the nickname “Eagle,” describes his pardon philosophy as “no MAGA left behind.” Lawyers who counseled Mr. Trump in the wake of the 2020 election — among them John Eastman, Kenneth Chesebro, Jeffrey Clark, and Mayor Rudolph Giuliani — have faced the prospect or reality of disbarment. All those lawyers also were criminally charged by the district attorney of Fulton County, Fani Willis. Those charges were dismissed following her disqualification.

Trump’s Pardon Attorney, Ed Martin, Faces D.C. Bar Discipline for Banning Georgetown Law Grads From DOJ in Feud Over DEI

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