type: timeline_event
On March 15, 2026, the Illinois State Bar Association and the New York State Bar Association filed formal opposition to the Department of Justice's proposed rule that would shield government lawyers from state bar disciplinary proceedings. The filings represented the most significant institutional pushback from the legal profession against the Trump administration's effort to insulate its attorneys from independent ethical oversight.
The Illinois State Bar Association's submission was blunt in its assessment, calling the proposed rule "unprecedented, unnecessary, and inappropriate." The ISBA argued that the rule would fundamentally undermine the system of professional self-regulation that had governed the legal profession for over a century, and that it lacked any legitimate justification beyond protecting specific DOJ officials from accountability for specific conduct. The association emphasized that attorneys admitted to practice in a state are subject to that state's ethical rules regardless of their employer.
The president of the New York State Bar Association went further, declaring that lawyers who "abandon their oath to the Constitution" should face discipline, not protection. The statement drew a direct line between the proposed rule and the conduct of DOJ lawyers who had carried out orders that courts had found unconstitutional or that bar authorities had determined violated professional ethics rules. Legal ethics scholars who submitted comments characterized the rule as an "assault on federalism," noting that state regulation of attorney conduct was among the oldest and most established exercises of state police power.
Critics also highlighted a direct conflict between the proposed rule and the McDade Amendment, a 1998 federal statute that explicitly requires government attorneys to comply with the ethical rules of the states where they practice. The comment period for the rule remained open through April 6, and additional bar associations were expected to file opposition in the coming weeks. The growing resistance from the organized bar underscored the extraordinary nature of DOJ's attempt to place its lawyers beyond the reach of professional accountability.