DC Bar presses ethics case against Ed Martin over Georgetown letter

The D.C. Bar has filed two ethics misconduct counts against Ed Martin, a senior DOJ official tied to the Trump administration, alleging he conducted an improper pressure campaign against Georgetown University Law Center after a February letter criticizing the school’s DEI programs. The complaint accuses him of violating his oath, engaging in unauthorized ex parte communications with a judge, and taking actions that could seriously interfere with the administration of justice. A potential sanction could be disbarment, though such proceedings are lengthy. The case grew from an ethics complaint by a retired judge and comes amid broader debates over using bar associations to scrutinize Trump-era officials; the DOJ has criticized the bar as politically motivated. Martin previously served as U.S. attorney for D.C. and later as the pardon attorney in the DOJ.