Attorney General Bonta Opposes Trump Administration’s Latest Attempt to Shields Federal Attorneys from Accountability

OAKLAND - California Attorney General Rob Bonta today joined a multistate coalition in supporting the District of Columbia's motion to dismiss a Trump Administration lawsuit seeking to enjoin D.C. bar disciplinary proceedings against former Acting Assistant Attorney General Jeffrey Bossert Clark. In May 2026, the Administration filed a complaint claiming that the bar-disciplinary proceedings violated the Supremacy Clause and Article II of the U.S. Constitution. In the amicus brief, Attorney General Bonta and the coalition argue that attorney discipline dates back to English common law and that no federal attorney should be immunized from ethical standards and rules.

"U.S. DOJ attorneys should not get special treatment or be exempt from the same disciplinary systems all practicing attorneys are subject to," said Attorney General Bonta. "It's commonsense and longstanding legal practice. No matter what this Administration might wish, no one is immune from the rule of law."

In 2021, the Chair of the Senate Committee on the Judiciary submitted a formal complaint to the D.C. Office of Disciplinary Counsel (ODC) about former federal Acting Assistant Attorney General Jeffrey Bossert Clark, relating to efforts to overturn the 2020 presidential election. The ODC's role is to investigate and prosecute allegations of misconduct against D.C.-licensed attorneys. In July 2022, based on that referral and ODC's own investigation, ODC initiated bar-disciplinary proceedings against Mr. Clark.

In May 2026, the Trump Administration filed a complaint against the District of Columbia, the D.C. Court of Appeals, ODC, the D.C. Board on Professional Responsibility, and officials from those institutions. In it, the Administration effectively seeks to implement a proposed rule that would undercut state bar-disciplinary proceedings against federal attorneys by allowing U.S. DOJ to request that such proceedings be suspended until the U.S. DOJ were to first conduct its own review of its own attorneys, including if they violated any ethics rule while engaged in federal duties. Attorney General Bonta and a coalition submitted comments opposing this proposed rule earlier this year.

In the amicus brief, Attorney General Bonta and the coalition argue that Congress made clear in the McDade-Murtha Amendment, 28 U.S.C. § 530B, that federal attorneys are subject to state regulation where they reside and practice law and that states and the District of Columbia have police powers under the Tenth Amendment to regulate attorneys licensed to practice within their borders. The coalition also explains that the U.S. Supreme Court has held that federal courts must refrain from interfering with ongoing state proceedings under the Younger abstention doctrine. And the coalition highlights that a successful challenge could result in federal attorneys being shielded from disciplinary proceedings, no matter how egregious their conduct. In application, this would provide federal attorneys with blanket immunity from disciplinary proceedings for professional misconduct.

Attorney General Bonta joins the attorneys general of Colorado, Minnesota, Arizona, Connecticut, Delaware, Hawai'i, Illinois, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, New Jersey, New York, North Carolina, Oregon, Rhode Island, Vermont, Virginia, and Washington.