Amid a tumultuous and controversial campaign of executive orders targeting major law firms, the Justice Department is now adding the American Bar Association to its target list, according to a memo obtained by CBS News.
In the memo dated Friday and shared with Justice Department employees, Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche ordered that “the Department of Justice will no longer use taxpayer funds to pay for any travel to or engagement with ABA events. Additionally, department employees may not, when acting in their official capacities, speak at, attend, or otherwise participate in events hosted by the ABA.”
The memo from Blanche, who previously served as Trump’s private defense attorney, blasts the American Bar Association as “activist” and willing to “insert itself into pending litigation.” The ABA is a professional organization for lawyers, judges and law students in the U.S., and with about 400,000 members, it’s the largest voluntary professional organization for lawyers in the world.
The ABA sparked the ire of the Trump administration when it joined the legal challenge against Mr. Trump’s executive order decimating foreign aid. The organization has also been criticized by Justice Department leaders for its efforts to promote diversity in accrediting law schools.
On Feb. 28, Attorney General Pam Bondi wrote to the ABA and accused the organization of unlawful race and sex discrimination through its diversity policies. In that letter, Bondi expressed surprise and concern that state bar associations still permitted travel and participation in ABA events.
The Trump administration has been targeting individual law firms that include his political opponents, reaching agreements with them to provide pro bono services to the Trump administration. Mr. Trump said this week that some of those firms will help the administration negotiate and handle paperwork for trade deals with other countries, as the the 90-day clock ticks for many countries to reach a trade deal with the U.S. or face tariffs on their exports to the U.S. above 10%.
