Trump-era Department of Justice official Jeffrey Clark won a big victory against Democrat lawfare on Monday when the D.C. Court of Appeals ruled he did not have to comply with a subpoena issued by the D.C. Bar’s Office of Disciplinary Counsel.
The appeals court denied the D.C. Bar’s attempt to enforce its subpoena against Clark because it “infringes on Mr. Clark’s Fifth Amendment right not to be compelled to be a witness against himself.” The court did not release a full opinion but promised to do so in the future.
The victory for Clark serves as a shocking blow to Democrats, who have tried to disbar more than 100 attorneys who agreed to work on election integrity cases following the 2020 presidential election. They’ve expanded that lawfare to attorneys across the nation who defend conservatives, including half of Republican attorneys general.
The D.C. Bar’s Disciplinary Counsel Hamilton P. Fox III initially charged the former head of the Department of Justice’s environment division in July 2022 with “attempted dishonesty” and “attempted serious interference with the administration of justice.”
Fox tried to subpoena Clark in 2021, shortly after the sham January 6 Committee failed to, but that demand was rendered effectively moot once he filed charges. Shortly after he announced the charges against Clark, Fox issued another subpoena in October 2022 demanding access to the former Trump official’s documents.
Among the requested materials was information about his draft letter to Georgia officials noting the DOJ “identified significant concerns that
