Pay Attention to State Bar Elections 

Anne Swift is a member of the DC Bar and senior counsel at Democracy Forward. She is also an ACS Next Generation Leader. She offers this post in her personal capacity. 

State bar associations have a simple but crucial mission: uphold the ethical obligations and rules of conduct of the profession and provide continuing education opportunities for lawyers throughout their careers.  

The membership elections for these associations are usually quiet, internal affairs. But this year, the 2025 election for president of the DC Bar has been getting significant press attention due to the ties of two major candidates to the Trump administration. Attorney General Pam Bondi’s brother, Brad Bondi, is running for president. Alicia Long, the top deputy to Trump loyalist and interim U.S. Attorney for the District of Columbia Ed Martin, is running for treasurer.  

The Trump administration, of course, has launched politicized actions against perceived opponents, admonished judges whose decisions it disagrees with, targeted law firms based solely on their attorney and client lists, and openly defied court orders. Earlier this week, the Department of Justice fired the attorney who argued the government’s case in the deportation of Kilmar Armando Abrego Garcia, as well as his supervisor, presumably for answering honestly when the judge asked why the U.S. could not simply ask for Abrego Garcia’s return. 

In this environment, it is critical that lawyers embrace their commitments to the United States Constitution, the rule of law, and the role of the legal system in protecting the rights of all people. More than 4,000 individuals and organizations have already signed a letter to Attorney General Bondi encouraging her to oppose attacks on the legal profession, and hundreds of law students have joined the American Bar Association, ACS, and bar organizations across the country in calling on all members of the legal profession to insist that the government maintain the rule of law.  

The largest unified bar in the country must maintain its independence from this lawless administration. That’s why it is imperative for DC-barred attorneys to vote in the local bar election and to vote for an independent slate, which includes Diane Seltzer for president-elect and Amanda Molina for treasurer-elect. 

In recent years, bar complaints have been critical tools to hold accountable attorneys who seek to undermine democracy and the rule of law through falsehoods aimed at disenfranchising voters and overturning election results they don’t like. 

Most famously, Rudy Giuliani was disbarred in DC and New York after spending years spreading false information and filing frivolous lawsuits seeking to overturn the 2020 election, which was hailed as the most secure U.S. election in history. John Eastman, who was involved in efforts to create slates of “fake electors,” was suspended from practicing law by courts in California and DC for his evidence-free efforts to overturn the 2020 election results. And a DC disciplinary committee called for the two-year suspension of Jeffrey Clark, a DOJ official in the first Trump administration, for using false and misleading information in seeking to have Georgia officials cast doubt on the results of the 2020 election. 

If Bondi and Long are chosen as president-elect and treasurer-elect of the D.C. Bar, they will occupy two seats on the powerful DC Bar Board of Governors, which sets and oversees the bar’s priorities. They will also have powerful, if indirect, influence over the outcome of attorney discipline. While the D.C. Court of Appeals appoints individuals to sit on the Board on Professional Responsibility, which oversees attorney discipline, the court must select seven of the board’s nine members from a slate of candidates recommended by the Board of Governors. If Bondi and Long win these seats, they will be able to stack the Board on Professional Responsibility with individuals who would turn a blind eye to the type of egregious attorney misconduct that led to Giuliani’s disbarment and Eastman’s suspension.  

At a time with constant news of Department of Justice attorneys being asked to engage in potential misconduct—with many resigning rather than violate their oaths—maintaining the independence and rigor of the DC attorney professional responsibility system is more important than ever. That is why voting in this year’s DC bar election is so important. 

Just over 7,000 of the DC Bar’s eligible members voted for president in the association’s 2024 election. Voting this year is a small but important thing every active member of the DC bar can do to fight back against the lawlessness of the Trump administration and protect those working to defend our democracy and the rule of law. Voting opened on April 15 and will run until June 4. All active DC Bar members in good standing can participate and should receive an email with instructions on how to cast their ballot online. 

While I’ve singled out the DC Bar here, if you’re a member of another state bar please make sure to pay attention to the bar elections in your state. Lawyers and the courts are the protectors of the public, and we must use every tool at our disposal to help this community stand up for the rule of law and our democracy.