« BACK  |  PRINT

RS

MEMBER DIARY

The Watercooler ~ The Perversion of Justice

The Pacific Justice Institute is working behind the scenes to expose the outrageous perversion of justice taking place as the federal government turns against the very citizens they are representing. Citizens who are paying their salaries.

The following is the opening statement for the project dubbed, “No Way DOJ,” explaining to Americans — who frequently feel broadsided by the travesties of justice occurring daily at the Department of Justice — just how wrong things really are:

What would you do if you found out that the attorney you were paying to represent you, to keep your confidences, to zealously argue on your behalf, was actually asking the court to rule against you?

This exact scenario is playing out right now in courtrooms across America.

For those of us who aren’t attorneys, while we know things seem awfully fishy, Pacific Justice Institute makes clear just how outrageous this conduct is:

The United States Justice Department has the duty of defending lawsuits filed against the “United States” —against “We the People.” Like all other lawyers, the attorneys of the USDOJ owe their clients the duties of loyalty, confidentiality, and zealous representation. Until recently, the DOJ handled high-profile and controversial cases with high levels of professionalism and integrity on behalf of the people of their foremost clients, the United States.

But not anymore.

Background
Earlier last year, at the direction of the President and Attorney General, the DOJ abandoned its representation of the American people in a number of lawsuits filed against the federal Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA). That was bad enough—but what happened next went beyond political correctness to violation of the most basic principles of legal professionalism. The DOJ and other government lawyers did not simply step away from these cases after leaving their clients hanging out to dry. Instead, the DOJ actually started filing briefs and making arguments against its former clients! Right now, the DOJ—once pretending to defend DOMA—is using everything it learned as defense counsel to now support the plaintiffs.

Is your dander up yet? To make it perfectly clear:

This scenario would be unthinkable in any other case. What these lawyers are essentially doing is leaving the table for the defendant, walking across the courtroom, and sitting down next to plaintiff’s counsel. The lawyers would be lucky not to get disbarred for flagrantly violating their duties of loyalty, confidentiality, and zealous representation. Yet, because it is the DOJ, and the client is the United States, they don’t believe the same rules apply to them. They think they can get away with this and no one will care.

So, on March 19, 2013, Pacific Justice Institute took a different tact to fight back:

Washington, DC–Pacific Justice Institute is filing complaints today with the Washington D.C. Bar against nine federal attorneys over their handling of litigation involving the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA). The complaints, brought by more than 900 people, allege that federal attorneys litigating cases challenging the constitutionality of DOMA intentionally took action to sabotage the case and prejudice the federal defendants that they were charged with defending.

More outrageously outrageous lawlessness from the Obama Administration. When will this stop? When will the American people tell this president, enough is enough?

The Watercooler is always an open thread.

COMMENTS

  • cbartlett

    Thanks for posting. I just sent the link to the PJI article to my son-in-law who will graduate from law school in May. For low-information voters, couldn’t this be more simply defined as the federal government requiring lawyers to violate attorney-client privilege? This is absurd. And the MSM? Silence. Shameful.

    Another (unrelated) question: There was a very interesting comment by “lakeworthcane” about Obamacare following Erick’s article “Obamacare Will Not Crumble Without a Government Shutdown” on 3/14/13. (I saved a copy of the text to refer to.) Several people commented that he/she should make a diary out of it so there could be more discussion about the information he presented. I haven’t seen any follow up but I’m not sure I know how to search this site correctly and don’t have any way to contact LWC to follow up. I would really, really like to see RS discussion on the ideas that were presented. The major point was that the EMTALA passed in the 80′s set us up to “need” the ACA to pay for health care services that were already mandated several decades ago.
    One quote: “The next big lie is that it (ACA) provides “free health care for millions of poor Americans,” when it doesn’t. Health care was already “free” before the ACA was passed. What ACA does is make people more responsible. In other words, it takes away the “free” health care the EMTALA provided.” I hate what Obamacare has done to our liberty and the economics will never work, but this article had some very interesting points to make that should certainly be considered if we ever manage to get to the “replace” part of “Repeal and Replace”.

    • westcoastpatriette

      Glad you sent the link to your son-in-law. I really believe most Americans need articles like this to make clear what is wrong with so many things Obama runs rough-shod over. PJI is able to break it down simply so that we can see just how recklessly the DOJ is acting against We The People.

      I went and looked at the diary you reference re: OCare and read all of lakeworthcane’s comment and I think he is a little off in some of his views. While EMTALA certainly has laid the groundwork for the government to continue to expand control of health care, I don’t think it was part of a conscience attempt to eventually enact OCare. I also lay the blame at the feet of the Dems for the concoction of OCare, where lakeworth’ made it sound much more conspiratorial by both parties. Remember it was passed by all Dems.

      Both OCare and EMTALA need to be repealed, IMO.

  • WmCraig

    If you attorney is not representing you in good faith, you don’t pay them. Can’t we get this through to Boehner. You make the Obama justice department do their job or stop paying them.