Senate Judiciary Committee Democrats accused the acting U.S. attorney for the District of Columbia, Ed Martin, of ethical violations that they said should result in the suspension of his law license or other penalties, the Washington Post reports. The formal complaint filed with the Office of Disciplinary Counsel, which handles attorney discipline, accused Martin of abusing his position by dismissing charges against a pardoned Capitol riot defendant he represented before taking office and his “using the threat of prosecution to intimidate government employees and chill the speech of private citizens." The complaint was made by committee Democrats led by Sen. Dick Durbin of Illinois. About a month before Durbin’s letter, Martin himself wrote to the D.C. Bar, alleging the professional disciplinary apparatus for lawyers in D.C. had allowed itself to be used to target Trump allies and advance Democrats’ political agenda. In a letter addressed to the D.C. Bar and obtained by The Washington Post, Martin accused D.C. Office of Disciplinary Counsel head Hamilton P. “Phil” Fox of targeting individuals “based on a policy or political disagreement” and demanded information about how the office handles complaints from what Martin called “political hit squads.”
The dueling moves, from Martin and the Democrats, have put offices that normally operate confidentially and out of the spotlight as they handle allegations of professional impropriety in the crosshairs of a political war.
The D.C. Bar is a mandatory association — to which lawyers must pay dues — that administers the licensing and discipline functions for lawyers licensed to practice in the District. It sends a portion of the funds it collects to a separate disciplinary arm, approved and overseen by the D.C. Court of Appeals, called the Board on Professional Responsibility. The Board on Professional Responsibility in turn oversees the Office of Disciplinary Counsel, which investigates and prosecutes allegations of misconduct by lawyers. Durbin has complained to D.C. authorities about alleged wrongdoing in the legal profession before. After a request from him in 2021, the D.C. Office of Disciplinary Counsel launched a probe of Jeffrey Clark, who had served in President Donald Trump’s Justice Department, over alleged ethical violations he committed in advancing false claims of election fraud after the 2020 presidential election. A panel recommended in August that Clark’s license be suspended, though the case is still pending.