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WASHINGTON, D.C. – America First Legal (AFL) has filed an amicus brief in the District of Columbia Court of Appeals urging the Court to reject partisan attempts to suspend and punish former U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) official Jeffrey Clark for doing his duty as a senior advisor to the President.
In yet another demonstration of politically motivated lawfare, the D.C. Bar’s Board on Professional Responsibility is targeting Mr. Clark for offering candid legal advice to President Trump in a draft memo about the 2020 presidential election.
The memo was never signed, never sent, and never acted upon. Yet the Board seeks to disbar Mr. Clark by arguing that his draft opinion, communications, and provision of advice somehow violate the D.C. Rules of Professional Conduct as “attempted dishonesty.”
For the D.C. Bar to purport that such a letter amounts to sanctionable “attempted dishonesty” is nearly as absurd as its ignorance of Mr. Clark’s lawful immunity as a confidential advisor to the President.
The law is clear: senior presidential advisors cannot be punished for carrying out their constitutional duties. In Trump v. United States, the U.S. Supreme Court confirmed that immunity extends to deliberations between the President and his senior officials. That necessarily includes Mr. Clark. At a minimum, he is entitled to qualified immunity, which shields officials from punishment unless they knowingly violate clearly established law. Nothing about Mr. Clark’s draft letter, or other actions, comes close to meeting that standard.
At its core, this proceeding’s purpose is to impede President Trump’s lawful powers. The U.S. Constitution and longstanding precedent affirm that the President must be able to seek frank counsel without fear that advisors will be punished for advising. The Board has made plain its contempt for President Trump and for those like Mr. Clark, though, evidently rejecting decades of precedent in favor of politicized lawfare.
If this can happen to a senior DOJ official advising the President, it can happen to any lawyer who dares to take on disfavored clients.
Turning confidential advice into a sanctionable offense, as the Board seeks to accomplish, would chill presidential counsel, paralyze the Executive Branch, and violate the separation of powers. Mr. Clark is entitled to immunity.
“We are proud to stand beside Jeff Clark as he faces an unquestionably weaponized disciplinary process. There is no place in a free society for thought police. And there is certainly no place in our democratic republic for a local bar to attempt to regulate the provision of legal advice to the President of the United States. We stand beside Jeff and firmly reject this weaponized proceeding,” said Gene Hamilton, President of America First Legal.
“Punishing a senior official like Jeffrey Clark for privately advising the President is an attack not only on his own livelihood, but on the Presidency itself,” said Ryan Giannetti, Counsel for America First Legal. “The Constitution requires fearless, unfiltered counsel inside the Executive Branch, and our system of justice requires that lawyers have the leeway to zealously advocate for their clients, regardless of the clients’ politics. We will continue to defend that principle, the separation of powers, and the rule of law. Politicized lawfare at the hands of Bar Associations nationwide is a threat to the Constitution, to the legal profession, and to our system of justice. It must be eradicated, and it starts here.”
America First Legal will never back down from defending the Constitution and ensuring the President and his advisors can rely on trusted counsel without partisan reprisal.
Read the full amicus brief here.
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