The Justice Department escalated its legal battle with Washington’s attorney disciplinary system on Tuesday by filing a federal lawsuit that accuses D.C. Bar authorities of weaponizing the ethics process against government lawyers who served in Republican administrations.

In the complaint filed in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, the Department names Hamilton P. Fox III, the D.C. Disciplinary Counsel; the D.C. Office of Disciplinary Counsel; and the D.C. Court of Appeals Board on Professional Responsibility as defendants. The DOJ seeks both declaratory and injunctive relief.

At the center of the case is former Assistant Attorney General Jeffrey Clark, who faced bar discipline over an internal pre-decisional draft letter connected to potential 2020 election fraud issues. That draft letter was never sent. The DOJ argues that punishing a federal attorney for deliberative work product that remained within the building strikes at the heart of Executive Branch independence.

The lawsuit directly ties the filing to President Donald Trump’s executive order on ending the weaponization of the federal government and his memorandum on preventing abuses of the legal system. Associate Attorney General Stanley Woodward stated the suit aims to prevent outside authorities from probing sensitive Executive Branch deliberations and to protect federal attorneys’ ability to provide candid advice.

The complaint alleges that D.C. disciplinary authorities have gone beyond ordinary attorney oversight to regulate the official work of federal government attorneys. It contrasts Clark’s treatment with that of former FBI attorney Kevin Clinesmith, who pleaded guilty to falsifying a document used in the Carter Page surveillance warrant process. The DOJ claims Clark faced harsher disciplinary action for internal deliberations than Clinesmith received after conduct affecting a federal investigation.

The complaint also alleges ideological bias within the disciplinary apparatus, citing social media posts by Senior Assistant Disciplinary Counsel Theodore “Jack” Metzler that allegedly attacked conservative legal positions, sitting Supreme Court justices, and federal judges. If accurate, such posts would raise concerns about impartiality in the disciplinary process.

The DOJ is requesting the court to void Clark’s proceedings entirely and bar future investigations or disciplinary actions against him based on his conduct as a federal government attorney.