{"id":149863,"date":"2026-04-29T12:33:06","date_gmt":"2026-04-29T20:33:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/2026\/04\/29\/washingtons-most-exclusive-club-to-todd-blanche-youre-not-our-kind-dear\/"},"modified":"2026-04-29T12:33:06","modified_gmt":"2026-04-29T20:33:06","slug":"washingtons-most-exclusive-club-to-todd-blanche-youre-not-our-kind-dear","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/2026\/04\/29\/washingtons-most-exclusive-club-to-todd-blanche-youre-not-our-kind-dear\/","title":{"rendered":"Washington\u2019s Most Exclusive Club To Todd Blanche: You\u2019re Not Our Kind, Dear"},"content":{"rendered":"

Todd Blanche is having a week. He couldn\u2019t find the bullet<\/a>. He filed what may be the most unhinged document ever submitted to a federal court<\/a>. And, per Politico\u2019s Daniel Lippman<\/a>, he can\u2019t get into the Metropolitan Club. Cue the sad trombone.<\/p>\n

Around February, Blanche reportedly started the rigorous process to join the Metropolitan Club, one of Washington\u2019s oldest and very important private clubs. The application process requires two sponsors and at least eight supportive letters from current members. Blanche\u2019s sponsors are Biglaw heavy hitters: Bill Burck,<\/a> global co-managing partner at Quinn Emanuel, and James M. McDonald, a litigation partner at Sullivan & Cromwell \u2014 both white-collar heavyweights, both presumably capable of vouching for a man\u2019s fitness to eat lunch in a nice room.<\/p>\n

And yet. At least six members have written to the Metropolitan Club\u2019s board of directors to object to Blanche\u2019s joining, saying he\u2019s too polarizing and has politicized the Justice Department. The members who spoke to Politico were granted anonymity because the club prohibits its members from speaking to the media about internal matters.<\/p>\n

The objections are not vague. \u201cHe is targeting a lot of people, and the Justice Department is targeting a lot of the members of the club, like judges, nonprofit organizations and universities,\u201d one member said. That is not a small point. Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell \u2014 whom the DOJ was<\/a> investigating for not cutting interest rates<\/s> as part of a probe<\/a> into central bank renovations \u2014 is a club member. <\/a><\/p>\n

The same member was not done: \u201cThe Trump administration is at war with most American institutions, and so the people who represent those institutions, many of them are at the club. And the club is the kind of place where you want to be able to relax and have a congenial conversation. But if he\u2019s in there, given that the Justice Department is so combative and aggressive, this is not the kind of tone that we want.\u201d<\/p>\n

Well, well, well, if it isn\u2019t the consequences of Blanche\u2019s own actions.<\/p>\n

Since taking over the DOJ, Blanche has declared war on the federal judiciary<\/a>, warned white-collar lawyers that their public criticism of the administration was being monitored<\/a>, moved to personally cover up key Epstein files<\/a>, argued that restaurant hecklers might be a RICO enterprise<\/a>, and indicted the Southern Poverty Law Center<\/a> \u2014 so \u201ctoo polarizing for the Metropolitan Club\u201d is, if anything, underselling it.<\/p>\n

A second member who penned a rejection letter called Blanche\u2019s public comments endorsing Trump\u2019s use of the DOJ to target political enemies \u201cpretty startling.\u201d And a third went full patrician: \u201cI am disappointed that the club\u2019s standards are slipping on so many levels and can only hope that the club leadership will recover, grab the rudder and set us on a smooth sail once again.\u201d Someone has been waiting their entire life to write that sentence and they finally got their moment.<\/p>\n

But Blanche isn\u2019t the only controversial political figure to get the cold shoulder from the club. Donald Rumsfeld \u2014 Bush-era Secretary of Defense, architect of the Iraq War, a man who presided over Abu Ghraib \u2014 was reportedly rejected by the Metropolitan Club<\/a>. <\/p>\n

There is also something almost poignant about the sponsors here. Two Biglaw partners from Quinn Emanuel and Sullivan & Cromwell \u2014 exactly the kind of establishment legal figures who built careers on the idea that the rule of law is a thing worth preserving \u2014 putting their names on a membership application for the man who, this very week, put his name on what the legal internet has been calling the most embarrassing court filing in recent memory. They may want to have a quiet word with their sponsee about the ALL CAPS situation<\/a> before the board votes.<\/p>\n

\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Kathryn Rubino is a Senior Editor at Above the Law, host of\u00a0The Jabot podcast<\/a>, and co-host of\u00a0Thinking Like A Lawyer<\/a>. AtL tipsters are the best, so please connect with her. Feel free to email\u00a0her<\/a>\u00a0with any tips, questions, or comments and follow her on Twitter\u00a0@Kathryn1<\/a>\u00a0or Bluesky\u00a0@Kathryn1<\/a><\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

The post Washington\u2019s Most Exclusive Club To Todd Blanche: You\u2019re Not Our Kind, Dear<\/a> appeared first on Above the Law<\/a>.<\/p>\n

<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

\"\"
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t(Photo by Tasos Katopodis\/Getty Images)\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Todd Blanche is having a week. He couldn\u2019t find the bullet<\/a>. He filed what may be the most unhinged document ever submitted to a federal court<\/a>. And, per Politico\u2019s Daniel Lippman<\/a>, he can\u2019t get into the Metropolitan Club. Cue the sad trombone.<\/p>\n

Around February, Blanche reportedly started the rigorous process to join the Metropolitan Club, one of Washington\u2019s oldest and very important private clubs. The application process requires two sponsors and at least eight supportive letters from current members. Blanche\u2019s sponsors are Biglaw heavy hitters: Bill Burck,<\/a> global co-managing partner at Quinn Emanuel, and James M. McDonald, a litigation partner at Sullivan & Cromwell \u2014 both white-collar heavyweights, both presumably capable of vouching for a man\u2019s fitness to eat lunch in a nice room.<\/p>\n

And yet. At least six members have written to the Metropolitan Club\u2019s board of directors to object to Blanche\u2019s joining, saying he\u2019s too polarizing and has politicized the Justice Department. The members who spoke to Politico were granted anonymity because the club prohibits its members from speaking to the media about internal matters.<\/p>\n

The objections are not vague. \u201cHe is targeting a lot of people, and the Justice Department is targeting a lot of the members of the club, like judges, nonprofit organizations and universities,\u201d one member said. That is not a small point. Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell \u2014 whom the DOJ was<\/a> investigating for not cutting interest rates<\/span> as part of a probe<\/a> into central bank renovations \u2014 is a club member. <\/p>\n

The same member was not done: \u201cThe Trump administration is at war with most American institutions, and so the people who represent those institutions, many of them are at the club. And the club is the kind of place where you want to be able to relax and have a congenial conversation. But if he\u2019s in there, given that the Justice Department is so combative and aggressive, this is not the kind of tone that we want.\u201d<\/p>\n

Well, well, well, if it isn\u2019t the consequences of Blanche\u2019s own actions.<\/p>\n

Since taking over the DOJ, Blanche has declared war on the federal judiciary<\/a>, warned white-collar lawyers that their public criticism of the administration was being monitored<\/a>, moved to personally cover up key Epstein files<\/a>, argued that restaurant hecklers might be a RICO enterprise<\/a>, and indicted the Southern Poverty Law Center<\/a> \u2014 so \u201ctoo polarizing for the Metropolitan Club\u201d is, if anything, underselling it.<\/p>\n

A second member who penned a rejection letter called Blanche\u2019s public comments endorsing Trump\u2019s use of the DOJ to target political enemies \u201cpretty startling.\u201d And a third went full patrician: \u201cI am disappointed that the club\u2019s standards are slipping on so many levels and can only hope that the club leadership will recover, grab the rudder and set us on a smooth sail once again.\u201d Someone has been waiting their entire life to write that sentence and they finally got their moment.<\/p>\n

But Blanche isn\u2019t the only controversial political figure to get the cold shoulder from the club. Donald Rumsfeld \u2014 Bush-era Secretary of Defense, architect of the Iraq War, a man who presided over Abu Ghraib \u2014 was reportedly rejected by the Metropolitan Club<\/a>. <\/p>\n

There is also something almost poignant about the sponsors here. Two Biglaw partners from Quinn Emanuel and Sullivan & Cromwell \u2014 exactly the kind of establishment legal figures who built careers on the idea that the rule of law is a thing worth preserving \u2014 putting their names on a membership application for the man who, this very week, put his name on what the legal internet has been calling the most embarrassing court filing in recent memory. They may want to have a quiet word with their sponsee about the ALL CAPS situation<\/a> before the board votes.<\/p>\n

\n

\"\"Kathryn Rubino is a Senior Editor at Above the Law, host of\u00a0The Jabot podcast<\/a>, and co-host of\u00a0Thinking Like A Lawyer<\/a>. AtL tipsters are the best, so please connect with her. Feel free to email\u00a0her<\/a>\u00a0with any tips, questions, or comments and follow her on Twitter\u00a0@Kathryn1<\/a>\u00a0or Bluesky\u00a0@Kathryn1<\/a><\/em><\/strong><\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Todd Blanche is having a week. He couldn\u2019t find the bullet. He filed what may be the most unhinged document ever submitted to a federal court. And, per Politico\u2019s Daniel Lippman, he can\u2019t get into the Metropolitan Club. Cue the sad trombone. Around February, Blanche reportedly started the rigorous process to join the Metropolitan Club, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":149852,"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-149863","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\/04\/IMG_5243-1-scaled-e1623338814705-620x568-WS3LLd.jpg?fit=620%2C568&ssl=1","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/149863","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=149863"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/149863\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/149852"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=149863"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=149863"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=149863"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}