Taking its place in history, the Select Committee to Investigate the January 6th Attack on the United States Capitol has completed its work and taken the unprecedented step of making a criminal referral of the former President of the United States to the Justice Department. Their work also included the referral of four members of Congress to the House Ethics Committee for willfully refusing to comply with subpoenas.
LDAD commends the Commission for its extraordinary work and exhaustive output. For a helpful recap of the Committee’s final hearing, recommendations, and executive summary, see Robert Hubbell's skillful take.
The essence of the Committee’s work is accountability – a principle LDAD has stressed since its inception, and summarized in our new report: Defending Democracy – Our First Four Years.
Our work has included the filing of ethics complaints against several of the attorneys described by the Committee as masterminding the plan to overthrow the election, including Rudy Giuliani. In highlighting the sanctity of every lawyer’s oath to defend the Constitution, two of our colleagues – John Montgomery and Lauren Stiller Rikleen – wrote about the continued consequences facing Mr. Giuliani in a National Law Journal article: An Attempt to Undermine the Constitution.
We also recommend two other insightful opinion articles this week from our colleague, Dennis Aftergut, in Slate and in the Verdict.
The work of the January 6 Committee will now rest on the shoulders of the Justice Department. It continues to be the responsibility of the legal profession to speak out in defense of American democracy. Much work lies ahead for all of us. May the leaders of our profession heed this call.
As always, we hope you will support our work by making a tax-deductible donation.
We wish you a safe and healthy holiday season.
The Board,
Lawyers Defending American Democracy
