The Daily Fuckup

The Justice Department has taken the fight over Jeffrey Clark out of the D.C. bar system and into federal court. In a complaint filed May 13, 2026, the department asked a judge for declaratory and injunctive relief aimed at stopping disciplinary officials and entities from moving forward with the case against the former Trump-era Justice Department lawyer.

Clark’s discipline was already far along when DOJ sued. The complaint came after D.C. disciplinary authorities had advanced the matter to a recommendation that Clark be disbarred over conduct tied to his role in post-2020 election efforts. DOJ is now arguing that those officials should not be allowed to punish a federal lawyer for work done as part of executive-branch service.

That is a narrow request in a live case, not a court ruling and not a finished outcome. The filing does not undo the disciplinary recommendation, and no judge has yet granted the relief the department wants. The D.C. Court of Appeals still has the final word in the bar matter unless and until a court says otherwise.

The practical question is who gets to police a government lawyer when the conduct at issue happened inside federal service. DOJ says the disciplinary process crossed that line. The defendants have not been ordered to stop, and the case remains pending in federal court while the parties fight over the scope of professional discipline and federal authority.