Trump-picked judge refers DOJ attorneys for discipline after scathing rebuke

A federal judge appointed by President Donald Trump referred Justice Department attorneys to a disciplinary committee Friday after condemning them for misconduct so severe she said it had shaken her faith in the DOJ entirely.

U.S. District Judge Mary McElroy of Rhode Island issued the referral under the court's Local Rule 210(b), citing both representations made by the respondents' attorneys and the findings of her May 14 order — a 24-page takedown of DOJ conduct in a case involving a subpoena seeking the medical records of minor patients who received gender-affirming care at Rhode Island Hospital.

In that order, McElroy found that DOJ had "misrepresented and withheld information" from both her court and a federal court in Texas, where she said the department had engaged in blatant forum shopping to find a friendlier venue for its demands.

The judge saved some of her sharpest language for DOJ's courtroom behavior, writing that a senior attorney "sat silently by" during a hearing while a junior colleague — someone who had been practicing law for approximately six months — "was forced to answer questions about DOJ's blatant disregard for the proper course of negotiations."

A declaration filed by a senior DOJ official in the Texas proceeding, McElroy found, was "clearly misleading, if not utterly false." She called DOJ's "reckless disregard for the duty of candor owed" to a federal court "appalling," and a serious breach of professional ethics.

"DOJ has proven unworthy of this trust at every point in this case," McElroy wrote.

She also quashed the subpoena entirely and enjoined DOJ from seeking, receiving, or using any patient-identifying records from Rhode Island Hospital, finding the subpoena lacked a congressionally authorized purpose, was issued in bad faith, and violated children's constitutional right to informational privacy.

Politico's Josh Gerstein was first to report the disciplinary referral Friday.