City Bar Urges Senate Judiciary Committee to Reject Todd Blanche as U.S. Attorney General
In a letter to the Chairman and Ranking Member of the U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee, the New York City Bar Association urges the Committee to reject the nomination of Todd Blanche to serve as Attorney General of the United States.
“Mr. Blanche has taken actions that we believe make him unfit to lead an ethical and independent department of justice that is essential to our nation’s democracy,” the City Bar writes. “Mr. Blanche’s record – particularly the actions he has undertaken as Deputy Attorney General and Acting Attorney General – conclusively demonstrates his lack of commitment to the integrity, professionalism and independence that the Senate should require and the American people should expect of the highest law enforcement official in the land.”
The City Bar writes that despite Mr. Blanche’s formal credentials, his actions, both as Deputy Attorney General and as Acting Attorney General, have “repeatedly demonstrated that his primary loyalty is not to the United States Constitution or the rule of law but to President Donald J. Trump, whom Mr. Blanche previously represented as a private attorney and whose personal interests he has continued to protect. As a result, his actions have been detrimental to the Department of Justice and the rule of law. Specifically, Mr. Blanche has compromised the integrity and independence of the Department he has been nominated to lead.”
In the letter, the City Bar details its conclusions based on Mr. Blanche’s having:
- Abused the Department’s prosecutorial power through politically motivated prosecutions and investigations;
- Failed to respect the Constitutional rights of citizens and all other people present in the United States protesting widespread abuses by ICE and other customs officers;
- Placed loyalty to President Trump over commitment to the rule of law in the Epstein investigation and the “settlement” of Trump v. I.R.S.;
- Undermined the independence and integrity of the Department of Justice by, among other things, terminating or reassigning lawyers and others who participated in January 6 investigations or otherwise acted in a manner perceived to be disloyal to Mr. Trump; and
- Undermined public trust in the Department of Justice and the rule of law through conduct contrary to the Rules of Professional Conduct applicable to Mr. Blanche and the Department’s own Justice Manual.
“As a result, in less than two years, the Department of Justice’s credibility with the courts and with the public, established over the course of decades, has been shattered,” the letter states. “Federal judges now frequently call out Department of Justice attorneys for false, incomplete and misleading statements in court. The impacts of this hollowing-out of the Department of Justice’s professional capability radiate through the federal government and, in a broader sense, throughout American society, with judges regularly rebuking lack of professionalism by DOJ attorneys and grand juries refusing to hand down indictments.”
“The Attorney General personifies for Americans our commitment to the rule of law and equal justice under the law,” the City Bar writes. “The Attorney General must therefore be a lawyer of both demonstrated professional excellence and unquestionable ethical standards that assure his commitment to justice and loyalty to the United States Constitution, and not to either his personal interests or those of the President who nominated him.”
Read the letter here.
About the Association
The mission of the New York City Bar Association, which was founded in 1870 and has over 20,000 members, is to equip and mobilize a diverse legal profession to practice with excellence, promote reform of the law, and uphold the rule of law and access to justice in support of a fair society and the public interest in our community, our nation, and throughout the world. www.nycbar.org