doj headquarters Office of the Attorney General at the U.S. Department of Justice in Washington, D.C. June 6. Photo: Diego M. Radzinschi/ALM

A cross-ideological group of U.S. Supreme Court practitioners and former clerks on Thursday called for U.S. Attorney General William Barr to be held accountable for what they called the Trump administration's "immoral" and "undemocratic" use of force against protesters in Lafayette Square on the evening of June 8.

"A line was crossed last week. And we, as lawyers, must speak out to defend it," the group wrote in a statement posted on Medium.

The statement was signed by more than 100 attorneys, including 39 former Supreme Court clerks and 20 alums of the Justice Department's office of solicitor general. Among them were Sidley Austin partner Carter Phillips, Mayer Brown partner Andrew Frey, Orrick Herrington & Sutcliffe partners E. Joshua Rosenkranz and Kelsi Corkran, Ropes & Gray partner Douglas Hallward-Driemeier, Hogan Lovells partner Catherine Stetson, and Harvard Law School's Charles Fried.

The statement also was signed by a number of former U.S. Justice department lawyers and constitutional law scholars. The statement followed one posted Wednesday, also critical of the Justice Department, from more than 1,260 former Justice Department lawyers across presidential administrations.

"Last Monday, the Attorney General violated his oath by overseeing violence against peaceful protesters exercising their First Amendment rights. Those actions are irreconcilable with the unbiased administration of justice and the rule of law," the new statement from the Supreme Court practitioners, former clerks and constitutional law scholars said.

Immediately after the protesters were removed following the use of rubber bullets, gas and pepper balls, the statement said, President Donald Trump, accompanied by Barr and others, walked through the square to pose for photographs in front of St. John's Episcopal Church.

"Simply put, these actions are immoral, undemocratic, unlawful, and disqualifying for any official in a democratic government," the statement said. "The attorney general, who, according to multiple sources (including the White House), orchestrated the action, must resign or be removed by Congress."

william barr Attorney General Willam Barr testifies before the Senate Judiciary Committee on the Mueller report on May 1. Photo: Diego M. Radzinschi / NLJ

Barr has defended the forceful clearance of Lafayette Square, saying, in recent interviews, that Park Police wanted a larger security perimeter around the White House. Trump administration officials have claimed the protesters were engaged in violent acts. Barr told the Associated Press that he did not give a tactical command to initiate the move on the demonstrators.

"I'm not involved in giving tactical commands like that," Barr said. "I was frustrated and I was also worried that as the crowd grew, it was going to be harder and harder to do. So my attitude was get it done, but I didn't say, 'Go do it.'"

The lawyers who signed Thursday's statement also called for an investigation to identify all others involved in the Trump administration's confrontation with demonstrators, who had assembled amid the national outrage of the police-involved death of George Floyd in Minnesota.

"Any other governmental official who facilitated or condoned deliberate harm to peaceful protesters—allowing the First Amendment to be sacrificed for perceived political gain—must also resign or be held accountable," the statement said. "The rule of law depends on it."

Civil rights groups, including Lawyers Committee for Civil Rights Under Law and the American Civil Liberties Union, last week filed a lawsuit against Trump, Barr and other officials in Washington federal district court on behalf of Black Lives Matter DC and several protesters for violating their constitutional rights during the Lafayette Square protest.

"This is a very dramatic example in how rights enshrined in the First Amendment are all under challenge,"Arnold & Porter Kaye Scholer senior counsel John Freedman, who is representing the plaintiffs pro bono, said last week. "These are protesters who were engaged in nonviolent, peaceful protest and senior government officials ordered that they be assaulted."

 

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