{"id":146634,"date":"2026-03-20T13:06:14","date_gmt":"2026-03-20T21:06:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/2026\/03\/20\/saving-the-worst-for-last-which-trump-administration-lawyer-most-deserves-to-lose-their-license\/"},"modified":"2026-03-20T13:06:14","modified_gmt":"2026-03-20T21:06:14","slug":"saving-the-worst-for-last-which-trump-administration-lawyer-most-deserves-to-lose-their-license","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/2026\/03\/20\/saving-the-worst-for-last-which-trump-administration-lawyer-most-deserves-to-lose-their-license\/","title":{"rendered":"Saving The Worst For Last: Which Trump Administration Lawyer Most Deserves To Lose Their License?"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Now we come to the final region in our bracket challenge. If you missed the prior regions, they\u2019re still waiting for your votes here, here and here.<\/p>\n<p>Voting is open until Monday at 7:59 p.m. Eastern. <\/p>\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">THE STEPHEN MILLER REGION<\/h2>\n<p>Stephen Miller is not a lawyer. He is, however, arguably the most powerful person directing the administration\u2019s legal strategy \u2014 a non-lawyer with extraordinary influence over the Attorney General and the Justice Department\u2019s priorities. He can\u2019t be disciplined by any bar because he doesn\u2019t belong to one. Which means we can only honor him by making him the namesake for this region.<\/p>\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity\">\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">(1) Emil Bove vs. (4) HARMEET DHILLON<\/h3>\n<p><strong>1. Emil Bove, former Principal Associate Deputy AG, now Third Circuit Judge (Georgetown University Law Center)<\/strong> <\/p>\n<p>It\u2019s really a whiff on our part that Bove isn\u2019t headlining the Roy Cohn region since he even looks like Cohn.<\/p>\n<p>Emil Bove \u2014 then the number three official at the DOJ \u2014 reportedly told senior lawyers at a key meeting that deportation planes under the Alien Enemies Act would be leaving for El Salvador \u201cno matter what\u201d and if any court enjoined the administration and purported to block the flights, DOJ lawyers should tell the courts \u201cf*** you.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The Campaign for Accountability filed a bar complaint, citing Bove\u2019s apparent role in dropping the Mayor Eric Adams corruption investigation \u2014 a move that resulted in tons of career lawyers leaving the DOJ in protest. New York\u2019s disciplinary body declined to investigate. And in a development that captures everything you need to know about accountability in this era, Bove was subsequently confirmed to a lifetime appointment on the federal appellate bench.<\/p>\n<p><strong>4. Harmeet Dhillon, Assistant Attorney General for Civil Rights (University of Virginia)<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>The DOJ\u2019s Civil Rights Division, under Dhillon\u2019s leadership, has transformed into something closer to the Civil Rights Demolition Division, with more than half the division\u2019s roughly 380 attorneys departing since she arrived.<\/p>\n<p>While she\u2019s taken a sledgehammer to the Justice Department\u2019s statutorily mandated role in enforcing civil rights, there\u2019s honestly not been a ton of ethical issues coming out of her office. Being maliciously bad at one\u2019s job is not, <em>per se<\/em>, a disciplinary event. She did amplify a <a href=\"https:\/\/factcheck.afp.com\/doc.afp.com.88KM3WE\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">false identification of a shooting suspect<\/a> after the Brown University shooting, which is an explicit no-no for a prosecutor.<\/p>\n<p>She does get in <a href=\"https:\/\/abovethelaw.com\/2026\/01\/senior-doj-official-and-right-wing-lawyer-get-in-hilariously-bitchy-twitter-slapfight\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">hilariously catty Twitter fights<\/a> as part of upholding the dignity of her office.<\/p>\n<p><strong><a href=\"https:\/\/linkto.run\/p\/LU4T0CDG\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">VOTE HERE<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity\">\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">(2) Chad Mizelle vs. (3) John Sarcone<\/h3>\n<p><strong>2. Chad Mizelle, former DOJ Chief of Staff (Cornell)<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Chad Mizelle left the DOJ in September 2025 to begin a career of glazing Pam Bondi from the private sector. But his legacy at the department is secure.<\/p>\n<p>Beyond the recruiting stunt, <a href=\"https:\/\/therevolvingdoorproject.org\/mizelle-conflicts\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Mizelle had up to $250,000 in undisclosed conflicts of interest<\/a> with companies the DOJ was actively suing or investigating, including Apple, Meta, and Visa. He didn\u2019t file his required financial disclosure until after leaving government. A Revolving Door Project investigation found that his entanglements posed clear conflicts with his broad leadership role \u2014 and that for nine months, the public had no way to know about them. He was, in the group\u2019s words, \u201creminded of recusal obligations\u201d by an ethics official.<\/p>\n<p>He also put out <a href=\"https:\/\/abovethelaw.com\/2026\/02\/doj-hiring-ausas-over-twitter-now\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">a call to recruit AUSAs lawyers over Twitter<\/a>, which probably isn\u2019t cause for discipline, but is an embarrassment for the profession.<\/p>\n<p><strong>3. John Sarcone, Pretend U.S. Attorney, N.D. NY (Pace)<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Sarcone rounds out the bracket as another variation on the theme of installing loyalist hacks as U.S. Attorneys even if they aren\u2019t, in fact, legally allowed to be U.S. Attorneys. The Campaign for Accountability filed a bar complaint against Sarcone alongside complaints against Habba and Halligan.<\/p>\n<p>Sarcone has a lower profile than the other two phony U.S. Attorneys in the bracket, but he makes the list as a reminder that for every Halligan and Habba making splashy incompetent decisions, there\u2019s a Sarcone quietly occupying positions across the federal system, carrying out the agenda without making as much noise.<\/p>\n<p><strong><a href=\"https:\/\/linkto.run\/p\/PTBQX96W\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">VOTE HERE<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity\">\n<p>Voting is open until Monday at 7:59 p.m. Eastern. <\/p>\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image aligncenter size-full is-resized\"><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" width=\"910\" height=\"360\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/abovethelaw.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2026\/03\/Screenshot-2026-03-19-at-1.15.59-AM.png?resize=910%2C360&#038;ssl=1\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-1180603\" title=\"\"><figcaption><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>The post <a href=\"https:\/\/abovethelaw.com\/2026\/03\/saving-the-worst-for-last-which-trump-administration-lawyer-most-deserves-to-lose-their-license\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Saving The Worst For Last: Which Trump Administration Lawyer Most Deserves To Lose Their License?<\/a> appeared first on <a href=\"https:\/\/abovethelaw.com\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Above the Law<\/a>.<\/p>\n<figure class=\"post-single__featured-image post-single__featured-image--medium alignright\"><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"300\" height=\"219\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/abovethelaw.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2023\/10\/Screenshot-2023-10-20-at-11.00.39-AM-300x219.png?resize=300%2C219&#038;ssl=1\" class=\"attachment-medium size-medium wp-post-image\" alt=\"\" title=\"\"><\/figure>\n<p>Now we come to the final region in our bracket challenge. If you missed the prior regions, they\u2019re still waiting for your votes here, here and here.<\/p>\n<p>Voting is open until Monday at 7:59 p.m. Eastern. <\/p>\n<p>Stephen Miller is not a lawyer. He is, however, arguably the most powerful person directing the administration\u2019s legal strategy \u2014 a non-lawyer with extraordinary influence over the Attorney General and the Justice Department\u2019s priorities. He can\u2019t be disciplined by any bar because he doesn\u2019t belong to one. Which means we can only honor him by making him the namesake for this region.<\/p>\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity\" \/>\n<p><strong>1. Emil Bove, former Principal Associate Deputy AG, now Third Circuit Judge (Georgetown University Law Center)<\/strong> <\/p>\n<p>It\u2019s really a whiff on our part that Bove isn\u2019t headlining the Roy Cohn region since he even looks like Cohn.<\/p>\n<p>Emil Bove \u2014 then the number three official at the DOJ \u2014 reportedly told senior lawyers at a key meeting that deportation planes under the Alien Enemies Act would be leaving for El Salvador \u201cno matter what\u201d and if any court enjoined the administration and purported to block the flights, DOJ lawyers should tell the courts \u201cf*** you.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The Campaign for Accountability filed a bar complaint, citing Bove\u2019s apparent role in dropping the Mayor Eric Adams corruption investigation \u2014 a move that resulted in tons of career lawyers leaving the DOJ in protest. New York\u2019s disciplinary body declined to investigate. And in a development that captures everything you need to know about accountability in this era, Bove was subsequently confirmed to a lifetime appointment on the federal appellate bench.<\/p>\n<p><strong>4. Harmeet Dhillon, Assistant Attorney General for Civil Rights (University of Virginia)<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>The DOJ\u2019s Civil Rights Division, under Dhillon\u2019s leadership, has transformed into something closer to the Civil Rights Demolition Division, with more than half the division\u2019s roughly 380 attorneys departing since she arrived.<\/p>\n<p>While she\u2019s taken a sledgehammer to the Justice Department\u2019s statutorily mandated role in enforcing civil rights, there\u2019s honestly not been a ton of ethical issues coming out of her office. Being maliciously bad at one\u2019s job is not, <em>per se<\/em>, a disciplinary event. She did amplify a <a href=\"https:\/\/factcheck.afp.com\/doc.afp.com.88KM3WE\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">false identification of a shooting suspect<\/a> after the Brown University shooting, which is an explicit no-no for a prosecutor.<\/p>\n<p>She does get in <a href=\"https:\/\/abovethelaw.com\/2026\/01\/senior-doj-official-and-right-wing-lawyer-get-in-hilariously-bitchy-twitter-slapfight\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">hilariously catty Twitter fights<\/a> as part of upholding the dignity of her office.<\/p>\n<p><strong><a href=\"https:\/\/linkto.run\/p\/LU4T0CDG\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">VOTE HERE<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity\" \/>\n<p><strong>2. Chad Mizelle, former DOJ Chief of Staff (Cornell)<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Chad Mizelle left the DOJ in September 2025 to begin a career of glazing Pam Bondi from the private sector. But his legacy at the department is secure.<\/p>\n<p>Beyond the recruiting stunt, <a href=\"https:\/\/therevolvingdoorproject.org\/mizelle-conflicts\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Mizelle had up to $250,000 in undisclosed conflicts of interest<\/a> with companies the DOJ was actively suing or investigating, including Apple, Meta, and Visa. He didn\u2019t file his required financial disclosure until after leaving government. A Revolving Door Project investigation found that his entanglements posed clear conflicts with his broad leadership role \u2014 and that for nine months, the public had no way to know about them. He was, in the group\u2019s words, \u201creminded of recusal obligations\u201d by an ethics official.<\/p>\n<p>He also put out <a href=\"https:\/\/abovethelaw.com\/2026\/02\/doj-hiring-ausas-over-twitter-now\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">a call to recruit AUSAs lawyers over Twitter<\/a>, which probably isn\u2019t cause for discipline, but is an embarrassment for the profession.<\/p>\n<p><strong>3. John Sarcone, Pretend U.S. Attorney, N.D. NY (Pace)<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Sarcone rounds out the bracket as another variation on the theme of installing loyalist hacks as U.S. Attorneys even if they aren\u2019t, in fact, legally allowed to be U.S. Attorneys. The Campaign for Accountability filed a bar complaint against Sarcone alongside complaints against Habba and Halligan.<\/p>\n<p>Sarcone has a lower profile than the other two phony U.S. Attorneys in the bracket, but he makes the list as a reminder that for every Halligan and Habba making splashy incompetent decisions, there\u2019s a Sarcone quietly occupying positions across the federal system, carrying out the agenda without making as much noise.<\/p>\n<p><strong><a href=\"https:\/\/linkto.run\/p\/PTBQX96W\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">VOTE HERE<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity\" \/>\n<p>Voting is open until Monday at 7:59 p.m. Eastern. <\/p>\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image aligncenter size-full is-resized\"><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"910\" height=\"360\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/abovethelaw.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2026\/03\/Screenshot-2026-03-19-at-1.15.59-AM.png?resize=910%2C360&#038;ssl=1\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-1180603\" title=\"\"><figcaption><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Now we come to the final region in our bracket challenge. If you missed the prior regions, they\u2019re still waiting for your votes here, here and here. Voting is open until Monday at 7:59 p.m. Eastern. THE STEPHEN MILLER REGION Stephen Miller is not a lawyer. He is, however, arguably the most powerful person directing [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":146608,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[16],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-146634","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-above_the_law"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/xira.com\/p\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/Screenshot-2026-03-19-at-1.15.59-AM-gN3wrP.png?fit=910%2C360&ssl=1","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/146634","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=146634"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/146634\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/146608"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=146634"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=146634"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=146634"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}