Republican senators and conservative groups convene to combat alleged politically-motivated lawyer discipline

Conservative think tanks and Republican senators convened Wednesday at Bellator Hall on Capitol Hill for a full-day conference titled “BARFARE: Stopping Bar Discipline as Political Warfare.” Organized by the Conservative Partnership Institute, Claremont Institute, Oversight Project and American Ascent, the summit included Sen. Eric Schmitt, Sen. Mike Lee and Associate Attorney General Stanley Woodward, who is leading the Justice Department’s lawsuit against D.C. bar disciplinary authorities.

Participants claimed that disciplinary proceedings are being used by the left to deter attorneys from representing President Donald Trump and his allies, citing ongoing cases against former DOJ official Jeffrey Clark, former pardon attorney Ed Martin, and former Supreme Court clerk John Eastman. Eastman urged the Supreme Court to hear his disbarment challenge, arguing that the chilling effect undermines free speech. Speakers called for courts and state bars to halt politically motivated complaints and suggested broader reforms, even questioning the role of the American Bar Association. The gathering framed the issue as a broader fight against what they describe as law-fare targeting conservative legal representation.