I am a lawyer, and as a lawyer admitted to practice in New Jersey, I am subject to state bar oversight. The Rules of Professional Responsibility require candor, meaning that I be honest and truthful in resenting materials to the court. If I am not so, I could be disciplined through sanctions, suspension, or even disbarment
Over the past year or two federal judges have issued sanctions against government lawyers because they were not truthful in presenting their cases, even to the point of citing case law that does not even exist. Now the DOJ has proposed a rule removing government lawyers from state bar oversight so any government lawyer can lie about what is being presented to a court.
This is different than zealously representing a client. I can argue about interpretations of the law in a particular case but cannot lie about a fact as government lawyers have done. The proposal to exempt government lawyers from state bar oversight is on its face beyond outrageous. It is a stain on the profession and denigrates the oath we all took to become lawyers.
Prayer for the Day
Your call to pursue justice extends to all,
For you have created no exemptions, O God;
You call us not to be perverted by a bribe,
For justice to all must be without favor.
Hold us to your demand given from times past,
As we seek your righteousness today.
In the name of the One who spoke truth,
Even Christ Jesus our Lord, Amen.
Thoughts for the Day
While the prosecutor a't his best is one of the most beneficent forces in our society, when he acts from malice' or other base motives, he is one of the worst. … the citizen's safety lies in the prosecutor who tempers zeal with human kindness, who seeks truth and not victims, who serves the law ~~d not factional purposes, and who approaches his task with humility.
Justice Robert Jackson, April 1, 1940 (1892-1954)
An attorney for the Government shall be subject to State laws and rules, and local Federal court rules, governing attorneys in each State where such attorney engages in that attorney's duties, to the same extent and in the same manner as other attorneys in that State.
28 USC 530B, enacted by Congress 1998
You must not distort justice; you must not show partiality;
And you must not accept a bribe, for bribe blinds the eyes of the wise,
And subverts the cause of those who are in the ight.
Justice, and only justice, you shall pursue,
So that you may live and occupy the land
That the Lord your God is giving you
Deuteronomy 16: 19-20