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Sherrilyn Ifill: What happened yesterday holds a powerful lesson. We must give it greater attention.
Sherrilyn Ifill
@sifill.bsky.social
32m
SKEET THREAD: What happened yesterday holds a powerful lesson. We must give it greater attention.
LAWYERS HAVE A CHOICE. To obey the rules of our profession or to degrade our oath by putting politics above our ethical obligations. In early 2021 I wrote this piece. www.nytimes.com/2021/02/12/o...
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Sherrilyn Ifill
@sifill.bsky.social
28m
Since then I have unrelentingly called for my profession to take a hard look at our profession - to reinforce the gravity of the oath we take as lawyers and to inculcate and refresh our obligation to the rule of law and thus to democracy.The @americanbar.org has taken concrete steps. More is needed.
Sherrilyn Ifill
@sifill.bsky.social
23m
But what Danielle Sassoon, the Acting U.S. Atty for the Southern District of NY with an unassailable conservative pedigree, joined by other other senior federal prosecutors in NY & DC, did yesterday is more significant than any CLE or bar statement could do. They showed that lawyers can & must…
Sherrilyn Ifill
@sifill.bsky.social
20m
put their our obligations & professional responsibilities ahead of political loyalty. That is why our professions are critical parts of our democratic infrastructure. The standards of a profession constrain us from engaging in the excesses we may be asked to indulge by political actors & clients.
Sherrilyn Ifill
@sifill.bsky.social
16m
Today we should remember that no DOJ lawyer resigned when Bill Barr hijacked & distorted the Mueller report, presenting its conclusions as an exoneration of Trump. That Rod Rosenstein submitted a memo advancing the narrative that Comey was fired b/c of how he handled Clinton’s email investigation.
Sherrilyn Ifill
@sifill.bsky.social
12m
That an array of lawyers filed complaints and briefs based on allegations of widespread voter fraud that the Attorney General (ironically Bill Barr) had solidly refuted and continued doing so, encouraging Trump supporters to believe that they needed to “stop the steal.”
Sherrilyn Ifill
@sifill.bsky.social
10m
That lawyers stood up in court and supported family separation of children “at any age” as directed by AG Jeff Sessions and Deputy Rod Rosenstein. There were no mass resignations of lawyers refusing to argue for these policies.Instead many argued zealously that immigrant detainees did not need soap.
Sherrilyn Ifill
@sifill.bsky.social
6m
That lawyers literally stood alongside Trump last year as he disparaged the integrity of judges deciding his case and derided the judges’ clerk from a microphone directly outside the courtroom IN THE COURTHOUSE.
Sherrilyn Ifill
@sifill.bsky.social
What Sassoon & her colleagues have done lays bare the truth. Those DOJ & private lawyers (all of whom are at the top of the profession) who carry out decisions that are corrupt & that violate professional standards at the behest of political actors, CHOOSE to do so. Our profession requires better.
February 14, 2025 at 10:56 AM
@sifill.bsky.social
32m
SKEET THREAD: What happened yesterday holds a powerful lesson. We must give it greater attention.
LAWYERS HAVE A CHOICE. To obey the rules of our profession or to degrade our oath by putting politics above our ethical obligations. In early 2021 I wrote this piece. www.nytimes.com/2021/02/12/o...
" target="_blank">
Sherrilyn Ifill
@sifill.bsky.social
28m
Since then I have unrelentingly called for my profession to take a hard look at our profession - to reinforce the gravity of the oath we take as lawyers and to inculcate and refresh our obligation to the rule of law and thus to democracy.The @americanbar.org has taken concrete steps. More is needed.
Sherrilyn Ifill
@sifill.bsky.social
23m
But what Danielle Sassoon, the Acting U.S. Atty for the Southern District of NY with an unassailable conservative pedigree, joined by other other senior federal prosecutors in NY & DC, did yesterday is more significant than any CLE or bar statement could do. They showed that lawyers can & must…
Sherrilyn Ifill
@sifill.bsky.social
20m
put their our obligations & professional responsibilities ahead of political loyalty. That is why our professions are critical parts of our democratic infrastructure. The standards of a profession constrain us from engaging in the excesses we may be asked to indulge by political actors & clients.
Sherrilyn Ifill
@sifill.bsky.social
16m
Today we should remember that no DOJ lawyer resigned when Bill Barr hijacked & distorted the Mueller report, presenting its conclusions as an exoneration of Trump. That Rod Rosenstein submitted a memo advancing the narrative that Comey was fired b/c of how he handled Clinton’s email investigation.
Sherrilyn Ifill
@sifill.bsky.social
12m
That an array of lawyers filed complaints and briefs based on allegations of widespread voter fraud that the Attorney General (ironically Bill Barr) had solidly refuted and continued doing so, encouraging Trump supporters to believe that they needed to “stop the steal.”
Sherrilyn Ifill
@sifill.bsky.social
10m
That lawyers stood up in court and supported family separation of children “at any age” as directed by AG Jeff Sessions and Deputy Rod Rosenstein. There were no mass resignations of lawyers refusing to argue for these policies.Instead many argued zealously that immigrant detainees did not need soap.
Sherrilyn Ifill
@sifill.bsky.social
6m
That lawyers literally stood alongside Trump last year as he disparaged the integrity of judges deciding his case and derided the judges’ clerk from a microphone directly outside the courtroom IN THE COURTHOUSE.
Sherrilyn Ifill
@sifill.bsky.social
What Sassoon & her colleagues have done lays bare the truth. Those DOJ & private lawyers (all of whom are at the top of the profession) who carry out decisions that are corrupt & that violate professional standards at the behest of political actors, CHOOSE to do so. Our profession requires better.
February 14, 2025 at 10:56 AM
https://bsky.app/profile/sifill.bsky.social/post/3li5kwp4aak2h