During a break in the civil fraud trial of the Trump Organization, Donald Trump, Donald Trump Jr. and Eric Trump, one of the defense lawyers issued a broadside attack on the judge and the court. Alina Habba, whose primary office is in New Jersey, said that the judge was “unhinged,” that the trial represented “the demise of [the] American judicial system and democracy,” and referred to “corruption in court­rooms” while gesturing to the courthouse behind her. “I was told to sit down,” Ms. Habba declared, “I don’t tolerate that in my life and I’m not going to tolerate it here.” She asserted that the court’s partial summary judgment order somehow represented a refusal to hear evidence. Other Trump defense attorneys have attacked the judge for the very standard practice of conferring with his law clerk during the proceedings.

Ms. Habba’s comments are certainly an embarrassment to our profession, unseemly, inappropriate and unprofessional. They send an inaccurate and incendiary depiction of our judiciary to the public. But are they an ethics violation?

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