Our
ATL
Madness
bracket
—
the
annual
March
tradition
where
we
ask
readers
to
vote
to
decide
a
pressing
legal
question
that
no
one
else
will
ask
—
has
reached
the
Final
Four.
This
year’s
question:
which
Trump
administration
lawyer
most
deserves
bar
discipline?
Sixteen
lawyers
entered.
The
field
is
now
down
to
four.
And
while
the
winner
of
this
bracket
does
not
receive
an
automatic
referral
to
state
disciplinary
authorities
—
though
they
probably
should
—
the
real
purpose
of
this
exercise
is
to
remind
everyone
that
local
licensing
authorities
are
the
last
line
of
defense
to
unethical
behavior.
At
least
for
now…
because
the
Department
of
Justice
is
trying
to
ramrod
a
new
rule
that
seizes
control
over
all
ethical
questions
involving
a
past
or
present
government
lawyer.
That’s
the
smoking
gun
admission
that
they
know
they’ve
set
fire
to
their
professional
responsibilities.
Voting
on
this
round
will
be
open
until
Friday
at
noon.
Anyway,
let’s
see
what
happened
on
the
left
side
of
our
bracket:
Probably
not
a
surprise,
but
the
nation’s
top
lawyer
is
also
the
one
that
readers
feel
most
deserves
to
face
ethical
consequences
for…
all
this.
Carr
did
put
up
a
fight
though!
And
almost
immediately
after
he
bragged
that
under
his
leadership,
“PBS
defunded,
NPR
defunded,”
a
federal
judge
orders
funding
restored
based
on
the
cuts
amounting
to
a
censorship
—
a
conclusion
that
could’ve
been
hard
to
reach
if
Carr
wasn’t
stupid
enough
to
brag
about
it
in
public.
Alas,
Pam
Bondi
moves
forward
in
ignominy.
And
the
Dow
is
no
longer
over
50,000
for
her
to
use
as
a
distraction.
When
I
checked
in
to
call
the
results,
the
margin
was…
1
vote.
A
single
vote
decided
this
pairing,
and
by
virtue
of
that
person’s
decision…
Alina
Habba
will
advance
to
the
Final
Four.
She
did
have
a
deeper
lifetime
resume
when
it
came
to
stepping
on
professional
rakes
for
Trump.
But
Halligan
had
really
done
a
speed
run
over
the
last
several
months.
That
sets
up
this
epic
battle:
(1)
Pam
Bondi
v.
(2)
Alina
Habba.
VOTE
HERE.
Meanwhile,
on
the
other
side
of
the
bracket:
Todd
Blanche
went
to
CPAC
to
gloat
that
the
Trump
administration
purged
anyone
who
had
any
involvement
with
investigating
Trump’s
crimes.
Former
FBI
agents
said,
“thank
you”
and
promptly
filed
a
lawsuit
claiming
they
were
illegally
fired.
The
problem
with
an
administration
based
on
performative
antics
is
that
they
can’t
keep
their
mouths
shut
even
when
their
buffoonery
all
but
guarantees
they’ll
lose
in
court.
We
give
Bondi
a
lot
of
flak
for
her
“Dow
is
over
50,000”
hearing,
but
when
it
comes
to
grabbing
a
microphone
and
making
an
embarrassment
of
himself
and
the
profession,
Todd
is
hard
to
top.
Even
Jeanine
Pirro,
who
made
her
living
as
a
dancing
monkey
on
cable
news,
could
barely
make
a
dent
against
Todd.
I’m
not
so
sure
about
this
one.
Emil
Bove
intervened
personally
to
kill
the
Eric
Adams
investigation,
prompting
the
SDNY
USAO
leadership
and
essentially
all
of
the
public
corruption
staff
at
Justice
to
quit
in
protest.
He
reportedly
told
Justice
Department
officials
to
tell
judges
“f**k
you”
if
they
issued
court
orders
blocking
facially
illegal
administration
policies.
And
then
his
reward
was
a
lifetime
appointment
to
the
Third
Circuit.
Mizelle’s
role
in
the
Make
Justice
Clowns
Again
movement,
while
significant,
sort
of
pales
in
comparison.
But
the
people
have
spoken.
And
so
we’re
set
with:
(1)
Todd
Blanche
v.
(2)
Chad
Mizelle.
VOTE
HERE.
Voting
for
the
Final
Four
will
be
open
through
Friday
at
noon.
At
that
point,
we’ll
post
the
championship
round
and
have
you
all
vote
on
that
over
the
weekend.
Joe
Patrice is
a
senior
editor
at
Above
the
Law
and
co-host
of
Thinking
Like
A
Lawyer.
Feel
free
to email
any
tips,
questions,
or
comments.
Follow
him
on Twitter or
Bluesky
if
you’re
interested
in
law,
politics,
and
a
healthy
dose
of
college
sports
news.
Joe
also
serves
as
a
Managing
Director
at
RPN
Executive
Search.