Florida’s high court has brushed aside an attorney’s petition calling on the court to order the Florida Bar to conduct an investigation into allegations that U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi violated the bar’s ethics rules when her office terminated personnel.
In the case of Jon May v. Florida Bar, the state Supreme Court on Oct. 13 denied attorney May’s request for a hearing on the issue of a Florida Bar probe of Bondi’s actions.
“Because petitioner has failed to show a clear legal right to the relief requested, he is not entitled to mandamus relief,” the court said in its response, meaning that the court would not compel the bar to launch such an investigation.
Last week, May filed a motion for a rehearing, arguing that the court had answered the wrong question in its decision.
“The right question is: Was this court under a clear legal duty to order the Florida Bar to conduct an investigation on the grounds that the court has an independent duty to the people of Florida to ensure that members of the bar obey the rules of ethics?” May’s motion states.
May, along with scores of other attorneys and judicial officers, had called on the bar to investigate Bondi over allegations that she or her senior management team at the U.S. Justice Department ordered department attorneys to either take actions that violated their ethical obligations or resign. Such directives violate Florida’s Rules of Professional Conduct, May’s original complaint to the Florida Bar states.
May said in his rehearing request that Bondi critics had amassed evidence that shows the executive branch of the U.S. government has become emboldened to ignore the orders of judges in order to carry out the Trump administration’s political agenda.
“Fundamentally this refutes the Florida attorney general’s contention that (the) petitioner is attempting to use this court to interfere with the attorney general’s work,” May said. “Her work does not include lying to the court, and it most certainly does not include disobeying court orders.”
State Attorney General James Uthmeier and the U.S. Justice Department filed amicus briefs in support of the Florida Bar’s position in the legal dispute.
The Florida Bar has said that it “does not investigate or prosecute sitting officers appointed under the U.S. Constitution while they are in office,” though such probes could be launched after they leave office.
“The court’s holding was that I had not demonstrated a clear legal right to have the court compel the bar to investigate Bondi,” May told the Florida Record in an email, adding that his petition efforts have been assisted by groups such as Lawyers Defending American Democracy (LDAD), State Democracy Defenders and Lawyers for the Rule of Law.
LDAD officials expressed concern that the state Supreme Court’s decision means that Bondi cannot be held accountable for her actions while she remains in office.
“The Florida Supreme Court has effectively said that as long as Pam Bondi is the U.S. attorney general, she is not subject to any discipline by the Florida Bar for violations of ethics rules,” LDAD Executive Director Lauren Stiller Rikleen said in a prepared statement. “In essence, this means that the highest-ranking lawyer in the Department of Justice need not comply with the same code of ethics that all other lawyers must follow.”
Other legal observers, however, have said that traditionally, state bar disciplinary investigations and actions such as disbarment do not occur until an attorney leaves public office to allow the official to avoid distractions from official duties.
