Florida Bar Receives Over 70 Bar Complaints Against U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi 

What happens when the Florida Bar is bombarded with 70 bar complaints about US Attorney General Pam Bondi? Absolutely nothing. If you have ever filed a bar complaint against a Florida lawyer, you know the Florida rarely does any enforcement. If they do, they drag out their investigations. They drag them out for so long that by the time they find anything the lawyer is in prison.

Let’s not forget that nothing happens against high profile lawyers. Namely, Florida lawyers like Pam Bondi who are entrenched in the politics of the Florida Bar and the Florida GOP.

However, that didn’t deter 70 scholars, attorneys and former judges who filed complaints claiming her serious misconduct threatens the rule of law.

The Florida Bar Blows Off The Complaints

Last month, the Florida Bar rejected the 70+ complaints arguing it “does not investigate or prosecute sitting officers appointed under the U.S. Constitution while they are in office.”

The Florida Bar’s policy went into effect in 2021. The policy was a result of 1700 people filing bar complaints against former Florida AG Ashley Moody. Moody joined her Texas counterpart and other Republicans attempting to overturn 2020 presidential election results.

Now the 70+ attorneys and former judges have asked the Florida Supreme Court to order the Bar to investigate their complaints. They claim U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi violated Florida’s ethics rules as Trump’s AG.

The coalition’s legal argument is compelling. However, it’s a long shot given the fact that the seven justices on the Supreme Court were all appointed by Republican governors. 

The coalition challenged that assertion. They noted that in 1998 Congress passed the McDade Amendment. The McDade Amendment explicitly rejected The Florida Bar’s argument that investigating federal officials would encroach on federal authority.

The McDade Amendment states:

“Attorneys for the [U.S.] Government shall be subject to State laws and rules … to the same extent and in the same manner as other attorneys in that State.”

The petition preemptively confronts the likely criticism that their petition amounts to political grandstanding. Seasoned criminal defense lawyer Jon May who represented Panamanian leader Manuel Noriega wrote:

“Some have criticized ethics complaints against public officials as being ‘politics,’ or a vehicle for adjudicating policy disputes. As a review of the complaint will make clear, however, its aim is to assure that lawyers who occupy positions of public trust continue to abide by the Rules of Professional Conduct that they are obliged to follow. The long list of signatories to the complaint, many of whom are distinguished professors of legal ethics, vindicates that intent.”

The coalition’s 23-page complaint states that Bondi’s “principal ethical violation arises from her perversion of the concept of zealous advocacy. The complaint says she is using it as an overriding campaign to coerce and intimidate the lawyers they supervise into violating their ethical obligations.

If you would like to file a Florida Bar Complaint Against Pam Bondi, You can click here and fill out the form.

You Can Also Check Out Other Articles About Pam Bondi on MFI-Miami Below:

Throning Champ Pam Bondi Launches Investigation Against NY AG

Was Florida AG Pam Bondi Bought Off By Donald Trump?

Is Florida Barbie AKA Pam Bondi The Worst AG In Florida History?