ed martin is now facing formal ethics charges after the Washington, D. C. office that polices attorney misconduct filed a case tied to a threatening letter he sent to Georgetown University Law Center. The filing, made public Tuesday, centers on actions taken while he served as interim U. S. attorney in Washington, D. C., and questions his demands tied to the school’s diversity and inclusion policies. The developments were detailed in court filings tied to the D. C. Court of Appeals’ Board on Professional Responsibility, with the Justice Department pushing back and calling the D. C. Bar partisan.
Disciplinary filing targets actions taken as interim U. S. attorney
The ethics charges stem from a Feb. 17 letter sent to Georgetown University Law Center. In that letter, Ed Martin told university officials that a whistleblower claimed Georgetown was teaching DEI and asked about the practice.
The filings say that before the university responded, he moved to impose what the court documents describe as sanctions. Specifically, he instructed his office staff not to employ any students from the school as fellows, interns, or employees at the U. S. attorney’s office in Washington, D. C.
In the disciplinary documents dated Friday, Hamilton “Phil” Fox III, Disciplinary Counsel for the D. C. Bar, alleged that Martin’s conduct as a government official violated the First and Fifth Amendments of the U. S. Constitution. The filing states that, acting in his official capacity and speaking on behalf of the government, he used coercion to punish or suppress what it described as a disfavored viewpoint—teaching and promotion of DEI—and that he demanded Georgetown Law relinquish free speech and religious rights in order to obtain a benefit, employment opportunities for its students.
Justice Department response and Martin’s current role
The Justice Department issued a statement attacking the disciplinary process, accusing the D. C. Bar of being a partisan organization. In its statement, the department said the bar’s attempt to target and punish those serving President Trump—while refusing to investigate or act against what it called “actual ethical violations” committed by Biden and Obama administration attorneys—showed a partisan agenda.
Ed Martin did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
The court filings arrive after a turbulent period tied to Martin’s brief tenure at the U. S. attorney’s office. That tenure was described as riddled with controversy, including scrutiny over his prior involvement with advocating for rioters who stormed the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, and conflict tied to letters he sent to institutions and members of Congress.
After it became clear he could not win enough votes for confirmation in the Republican-controlled Senate, Martin was replaced as U. S. attorney by Jeanine Pirro. He was later given other jobs at the department, including serving as pardon attorney and as chief of Attorney General Pam Bondi’s Weaponization Working Group. The context in the filings also notes that Martin has since been stripped of his title presiding over the Weaponization Working Group, but he remains on staff at the Justice Department as its pardon attorney.
Immediate reactions and what’s next in the disciplinary process
The most direct allegations come from Hamilton “Phil” Fox III, Disciplinary Counsel for the D. C. Bar, who laid out the constitutional claims in the filing submitted to the D. C. Court of Appeals’ Board on Professional Responsibility and made public Tuesday. The Justice Department’s response was delivered in a separate statement disputing the motivations of the D. C. Bar.
There is no timeline provided in the available filings for how quickly the case will move through the D. C. Court of Appeals’ Board on Professional Responsibility, or what penalties could result if the allegations are sustained. On his way out of the U. S. attorney’s office, Martin told his staff he was under investigation by the D. C. Office of Disciplinary Counsel, without detailing the matter. Now, with the ethics charges filed and public, the next steps will play out through the District’s attorney discipline process, with ed martin remaining in his current DOJ post as the case proceeds.
