Recent Coverage of Letter Calling for Investigation into U.S. Attorney Ed Martin
Law360 and The National Law Journal recently reported on Monday’s open letter to the D.C. Court of Appeals’ Office of Disciplinary Counsel, signed by members and leadership of the Society for the Rule of Law Institute. The letter calls for an investigation into Edward R. Martin, Jr., interim U.S. Attorney for the District of Columbia, citing flagrant violations of his professional responsibilities.
Law360 writes:
The letter said Martin, since stepping into the role, has made public statements indicating that he would investigate political adversaries and allegedly maintained “improper communications” with a defendant charged with participating in the Capitol riot.
“He has used his brief time in office to demonstrate a fundamental misunderstanding of the role of a federal prosecutor, announcing investigations against his political opponents, aiding defendants he previously represented, and communicating improperly with those he did not,” the letter said.
In addition to the former prosecutors, the signatories include former Fourth Circuit Judge J. Michael Luttig, former Rep. Barbara Comstock, R-Va., and attorney and conservative Trump critic George Conway. They are joined by Stuart Gerson, a top Justice Department attorney under President George H.W. Bush and acting attorney general under President Bill Clinton, and Gregg Nunziata, who served as chief nominations counsel to the Senate Judiciary Committee and general counsel to then-Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla.
Nunziata, in a statement on Monday, said Martin’s behavior “threatens the rule of law and warrants immediate investigation and probable sanction.”
The National Law Journal writes:
The Society for the Rule of Law Institute is one of the amici curiae urging the courts to strike down Trump’s executive orders targeting Perkins Coie; Jenner & Block; and Wilmer Cutler Pickering Hale and Dorr.
“A United States Attorney wields vast powers and must be held to the highest standards of legal ethics and professional responsibility,” Gregg Nunziata, executive director of SRLI, said Monday in a press statement. “Unfortunately, in just a few weeks on the job, Mr. Martin has repeatedly demonstrated his brazen misunderstanding of the nature of his office, his oath, and his ethical obligations. This behavior threatens the rule of law and warrants immediate investigation and probable sanction.”
Read the Law360 piece here (paywall).
Read The National Law Journal piece here (paywall).