Today’s Rule of Law crisis stems from decades of Bar Enforcement Authorities (BEAs) failing to enforce the legal profession’s Ethics Rules. BEAs in DC, VT, and virtually every other jurisdiction have literally never enforced their professed Honor Code (Rule 8.3), and many have also virtually never enforced Rule 3.1, which prohibits attorneys statements lacking a good faith basis.

By 1993, Yale Law Dean A. Kronman warned that “Every year produces … renewed doubts about the ability of the profession to police itself,” and in 2003 the ABA and every state exponentially expanded attorneys’ duties to speak up in the face of crimes and fraud. Disclosure mandates previously limited to future bodily harm were expanded to financial and even anticipated harm, yet BEAs brazenly ignore them.

RTL focuses on DC because of its heightened importance to democracy, and because of indisputable and ongoing violations by its BEAs themselves. RTL focuses on VT because VT’s own data show 8.3 and 3.1 alone are violated over 1,000 times per year.

Stopping these brazen failures is critical to preserving our democracy. In 2023 and following public outcry from just one non-enforcement scandal, California: (1) investigated and disclosed its BEAs’ “shocking … culture of unethical and unacceptable behavior;” (2) enacted an 8.3 expressly requiring reporting to Courts and not just BEAs; and (3) appointed a Non-Attorney to Chair BEA oversight. Other states should follow.