When the Nation’s Top Lawyer Treats Ethics as Optional
How a decade of ethical evasion paved the way for Pam Bondi’s partisan performance
The Attorney General of the United States occupies a singular, almost sacred role in American governance. She is not a pundit, a political combatant, or a campaign surrogate. She is the nation’s lawyer. And when she appears before Congress, she does so under oath, bound by the same rules of candor, professionalism, and respect that govern every attorney in every courtroom in the country.
Having spent decades working under these ethical obligations, I know that standard is neither ambiguous nor optional. And it is certainly not met by turning a congressional hearing into a televised grudge match.
Yet that is precisely what Attorney General Pam Bondi did when she appeared before the House Judiciary Committee. Rather than answer questions, she taunted members. Rather than show respect for the institution, she interrupted, mocked, and performed. Rather than uphold the dignity of her office, she treated the proceeding as an opportunity to score points with an audience outside the room. Any lawyer behaving this way before a judge would be held in contempt before finishing their first outburst.
But Bondi has learned a lesson no attorney should ever embrace: the rules are for other people. This behavior is not a sudden glitch in the system; it is the predictable outcome of a decade-long pattern of ethical evasion and institutional protection.
Over the years, multiple complaints have been filed with The Florida Bar alleging that Bondi engaged in serious professional misconduct, including several lodged before she ever became a federal official. The Bar had full jurisdiction to investigate; it simply declined to act.
Later, when additional complaints were filed after she entered federal service, the Bar adopted a new position: that it could not investigate a sitting federal officer. That rationale was dubious on its face, but it also conveniently ignored the earlier complaints that required no such exemption.
When petitioners asked the Florida Supreme Court to compel an investigation, the Court refused. When investigative reporters documented how the Bar had repeatedly shielded high‑ranking officials from scrutiny, nothing changed. And when legal scholars warned that senior government lawyers were increasingly treating ethics rules as optional, the institutions charged with enforcing those rules looked away.
The message to Bondi was unmistakable: if you are powerful enough, the guardrails are merely decorative.
So, when Bondi arrived on Capitol Hill and behaved like a political performer instead of the nation’s top law enforcement officer, she was not defying the system. She was responding to the incentives the system had created.
This is the real problem. Not just one attorney general’s conduct, but the institutional failure that made it possible.
The legal profession rests on a simple premise: the rules should apply equally to everyone. Lawyers are officers of the court. Their duty is to the law, not to themselves. When they testify under oath, they are expected to tell the truth. When they appear before a legislative body, they are expected to show respect. When they hold public office, they are expected to uphold the integrity of the institutions they serve.
If the Attorney General cannot meet that standard, the standard begins to erode.
And when the bodies responsible for enforcing the rules refuse to act, the erosion accelerates. The Bar’s refusal to investigate misconduct, even when it had unquestioned jurisdiction, creates a perverse hierarchy of accountability: the higher the office, the lower the scrutiny. The Florida Supreme Court’s unwillingness to intervene leaves the public with no recourse. The result is a system in which the nation’s top lawyer can behave in ways that would get any ordinary attorney disciplined, suspended, or disbarred — and face no consequences at all.
That is not how a profession maintains integrity. It is how it loses it.
The stakes are not abstract. When the Attorney General treats Congress with contempt, she signals to every lawyer in the country that ethics are negotiable. When oversight bodies decline to enforce their own rules, they tell the public that accountability is a privilege reserved for the powerful. And when the nation’s chief law enforcement officer behaves like a partisan brawler, the damage extends far beyond a single hearing room.
The rule of law is not self‑executing. It depends on people — and institutions — willing to defend it. That requires courage, independence, and a commitment to principle that does not evaporate when the subject of scrutiny is politically connected.
Pam Bondi’s conduct before Congress was unacceptable. But the failure also belongs to the institutions that taught her she could get away with it.
The rules exist. The misconduct has been alleged, documented, and displayed publicly. The only thing missing is enforcement.
Until the legal profession is willing to hold its most powerful members to the same standard as everyone else, the public will continue to watch the nation’s top lawyer behave in ways that would get any ordinary attorney escorted out of a courtroom. And the damage to our democracy will not be limited to one hearing but will be woven into the fabric of our institutions.
Accountability is not optional. It is the job.
