We all know that lawyers have to “pass the bar” in order to practice law and we’ve probably noticed that they do this on a state level. The state bar associations also have procedures where ethics complaints can be filed against member lawyers and they have ethical guidelines that are publicly available. William Barr belongs to the Virginia and DC Bar Associations. There have already been some initiatives to enlist the Bar Associations in investigating Barr's behavior regarding the Mueller Report.
Reps Ted Lieu and Kathleen Rice wrote letters to both Bar Associations asking for ethics investigations because "the recent release of a document written by Special Counsel Mueller to the Attorney General objecting to his severe mischaracterization of the Special Counsel’s report" suggested that "the Attorney General has at best misled Congress and the American people, and at worst perjured himself before the Senate and House." When I talked to Lieu's office last week, there had been no response to these letters.
Someone named A Guagenti started a petition on Change.Org which has generated only 870 signature in four months. Needtoimpeach.com announced in a press release on May 3 a campaign to generate ethics complaints to the VA Bar complete linking to the Bar's online "Lawyer Complaint Form." They stated there they would use email and Facebook to generate complaints and provided a partially complete online form. Nothing further has been reported there. Have any of you heard from them in this regard? As far as I can tell, the efforts to enlist the support of the VA and DC Bar Associations haven't yet gained any traction.
The powerful reason for trying to inspire one or both of these Bar Associations to conduct an ethics investigation into William Barr's conduct is that the Bar Associations are totally independent agencies with no formal connection to the Federal Government. Neither Trump nor Barr has the status to block such an investigation. I don't see how they could even go to court to try to slow things down if one of the Bars decided to go in that direction. If we the people could make this happen, Barr's credibility and legitimacy would be justly undermined.
Kossacks can easily imagine why the Bar Associations wouldn't want to touch this mess with the proverbial ten foot pole. But if enough people filed complaints and media started paying attention, they might have to. I hope that some of you will pick up the gauntlet. I filed an online complaint with the VA Bar today and I'm going to send the text to my local newspapers along with the following links. (Please let me know of any problems with the links.)
I'm not savvy and have limited presence on social media, so please, anyone who's motivated, feel free to use those tools to spread this message. Here's the text of what I wrote to the VA Bar. (My friend whose an activist lawyer told me to include some statements about how I am personally impacted by Barr's behavior.)
My world changed when I read William Barr's letter to
Congress dated March 24, 2019. Prior to that date,
I believed that the United States was a democracy
protected by the rule of law. On that date, it occurred
to me that perhaps this is not true. I was frightened
by the appearance that the chief law enforcement officer
of our country was presenting a summary of the
Mueller Report that was at variance with voluminous
media reports over the past year, both in reference
to Trump campaign contacts with Russia and
presidential obstruction. How could this be? As it
turned out, Robert Mueller himself felt that the
March 24 letter created confusion among the public and
potentially undermined confidence in the investigation,
as he wrote to Mr. Barr in a private letter of March 27.
The anxiety I felt, and continue to feel, was warranted.
Attorney General William Barr had misrepresented
the findings of the Mueller Report in a way that
minimized public concern. Could this have been an
accident or was it a deliberate misrepresentation
in violation of your Rules of Professional Conduct?
I write to ask you to investigate this
question, particularly considering that Mr. Barr
made no effort to address Mr. Mueller's concerns,
as we later learned. In fact, Mr. Barr stated in
testimony to Congress on April 9 and 10 that he didn't
know if Mr. Mueller supported his representation
of the report whereas Mr. Mueller had both phoned
and written him to express concerns. These statements
to Congress seem to go beyond the level of misrepresentation
to outright falsehood. I am sure that I am one of thousands
if not millions of Americans who are literally losing sleep
over the appearance of dishonesty and obstruction of justice
at the highest levels of our Federal Government. I believe
that the Virginia Bar can play a crucial role in renewing
our faith in government by conducting a non-partisan,
objective investigation of whether William Barr violated
your Code of Professional Ethics. Specifically,
I believe that Mr. Barr's public statements regarding the
Mueller report, his letter to Congress dated
March 24, and his testimony before Congress as the chief
law enforcement officer of the United States
may violate VSB Rule of Professional 8.4(c) ) by the
deliberate inclusion of misleading and false elements in
writing and in testimony. These potential ethical
violations are more than mere technicalities. Rather, they
may have contributed to: the failure of our Federal
Government to enact programs to counter foreign interference
in our elections, to disrespect for our laws and the
agencies which enforce them, to obstruction of Congressional obligations to
provide governmental oversight, and to manipulation of the
tools of government to personally enrich President Trump
and his appointees. I hope that the Virginia Bar will
recognize the role it can play in supporting at the highest level of
government the professional ethics which it defines and
promotes. This cause has become even more critical as we
read the news about the Jeffrey Epstein case. We need to
know that we can trust our Justice Department and its
leadership to hold criminals accountable.