The Brady Center to Prevent Gun Violence and Common Cause filed an ethics complaint on July 3, 2001 against Attorney General John Ashcroft with the Department of Justice's Office of the Inspector General and the District of Columbia Court of Appeals' Office of Bar Counsel. The complaint demands an investigation into the ethical propriety of a May 17, 2001 letter sent from Attorney General Ashcroft to the National Rifle Association (NRA), in which the Attorney General contradicts the United States' legal interpretation of the Second Amendment to the United States Constitution — and supports the interpretation taken by the NRA on behalf of the criminal defendant, Mr. Emerson — in United States v. Emerson, a case currently pending before the United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit. Attorney General Ashcroft violated ethics rules governing all attorneys by publicly stating a legal position at odds with that of his client, the United States of America, in a pending case. Attorney General Ashcroft's actions violate ethics rules prohibiting conflicts of interest between an attorney and his client and prohibiting public statements by an attorney likely to prejudice a judicial proceeding. The Brady Center and Common Cause's ethics complaint is supported by an opinion from legal ethics expert, Professor Samuel Dash, of the Georgetown University Law Center, who termed the Attorney General's violations "egregious," "an act of disloyalty to his client, the United States," and an "impermissible conflict of interest."

Related Documents:

• Click here to read the press release.
• Click here to read the complaint.
• Click here to read Samuel Dash's letter (copy).
• Click here to read Ashcroft's letter to the NRA.