The
first
round
of
our
bracket
challenge
is
in
the
books
and
the
carnage
was…
mostly
non-existent.
It’s
bittersweet
for
someone
setting
up
a
tournament
because
you’re
proud
of
yourself
for
properly
seeding
the
field,
but
you
regret
not
giving
the
audience
more
excitement.
But
pour
one
out
for
Ed
Martin.
He
leaked
grand
jury
material,
dropped
charges
against
his
own
former
client,
and
dressed
up
like
Inspector
Gadget
to
intimidate
the
New
York
Attorney
General,
but
he
still
couldn’t
make
it
out
of
the
first
round.
When
we’re
talking
about
ethical
investigations,
the
competition
among
Trump’s
lawyers
is
just
that
stiff.
But
now
the
field
is
down
to
eight
and
the
matchups
are
getting
serious.
This
is
where
the
tournament
gets
interesting
—
where
“merely”
defying
court
orders
has
to
compete
with
fabricating
criminal
prosecutions,
where
undisclosed
conflicts
of
interest
square
off
against
telling
federal
judges
to
go
f***
themselves.
Voting
is
open
now
until
Monday
at
7:59
p.m.
Eastern.
Here’s
how
the
regional
championship
round
shakes
out.
ROY
COHN
REGION:
(1)
Pam
Bondi
vs.
(3)
Brendan
Carr
Bondi
cruised
past
DHS
General
Counsel
James
Percival
in
the
first
round.
Carr,
meanwhile,
pulled
off
the
tournament’s
lone
upset,
knocking
off
Ed
Martin
by
fewer
than
a
hundred
votes.
At
first
glance,
this
looks
like
a
mismatch.
Bondi
is
the
Attorney
General
of
the
United
States
—
the
person
who
fired
a
career
DOJ
lawyer
for
telling
a
federal
judge
the
truth,
sending
the
unmistakable
message
that
DOJ
lawyers
must
lie
or
lose
their
jobs.
The
whole
point
of
this
tournament
is
to
highlight
the
lawyers
most
in
need
of
state
disciplinary
action,
and
Bondi
is
now
cartoonishly
proposing
a
rule
to
block
state
bars
from
investigating
government
lawyers
altogether.
If
your
response
to
potential
bar
discipline
is
to
ban
bar
discipline,
you
might
be
telling
on
yourself.
But
don’t
sleep
on
Carr.
The
FCC
Chair
has
turned
broadcast
regulation
into
a
weapon
for
punishing
political
speech
the
president
doesn’t
like.
He
pressured
CBS
into
settling
Trump’s
personal
lawsuit,
tried
to
get
ABC
to
fire
Jimmy
Kimmel,
and
has
now
threatened
to
revoke
broadcast
licenses
over
news
coverage
of
the
Iran
war.
Ted
Cruz
called
Carr’s
conduct
dangerous
and
compared
it
to
a
mafia
extortion
scheme.
One
fun
wrinkle:
a
state
bar
authority
already
declined
to
pursue
Carr’s
misconduct
because
it
was
too
obvious
to
justify
further
action.
That’s
the
ethical
equivalent
of
a
cop
declining
to
write
you
a
ticket
because
you
were
going
so
fast
the
radar
gun
couldn’t
clock
you.
RUDY
GIULIANI
REGION:
(1)
Lindsey
Halligan
vs.
(2)
Alina
Habba
This
is
the
matchup
we’ve
all
been
waiting
for.
The
Battle
of
the
Fake
Prosecutors.
Two
lawyers
with
zero
criminal
law
experience,
both
installed
as
top
federal
prosecutors
by
presidential
fiat,
and
both
told
by
federal
judges
that
their
appointments
were
illegal.
Halligan
earned
the
1
seed
through
sheer
volume
of
incompetence.
She
suggested
James
Comey
had
no
Fifth
Amendment
rights.
She
submitted
an
indictment
that
the
full
grand
jury
never
voted
on.
A
federal
judge
ruled
she
possessed
“no
more
authority
than
any
private
citizen
off
the
street.”
She
then
continued
using
the
title
anyway
until
another
judge
called
her
out.
Eventually
she
got
benchslapped
out
of
a
job.
Habba,
though,
is
no
slouch.
Before
her
illegal
appointment
as
New
Jersey’s
top
federal
prosecutor,
she
was
already
famous
for
flopping
so
spectacularly
in
the
E.
Jean
Carroll
trial
that
the
judge
had
to
explain
basic
trial
procedure
to
her.
She
and
her
team
also
earned
$1
million
in
sanctions
for
the
frivolous
RICO
suit
against
Hillary
Clinton.
Her
tenure
as
phony
U.S.
Attorney
ended
when
she
quit
the
job
she
never
legally
held.
This
is
a
genuinely
tough
call.
Halligan’s
disasters
were
louder;
Habba’s
have
been
more
sustained.
Think
of
it
as
choosing
between
a
spectacular
car
wreck
and
a
slow-motion
demolition
derby.
JOHN
EASTMAN
REGION:
(1)
Todd
Blanche
vs.
(2)
Jeanine
Pirro
Two
very
different
paths
to
professional
disgrace.
Blanche
was
a
Cadwalader
partner
before
becoming
Trump’s
personal
criminal
defense
attorney
and
then
the
number
two
at
the
Justice
Department.
He’s
keeping
Epstein
files
under
wraps
despite
the
explicit
text
of
a
congressional
statute,
declaring
“war”
on
federal
judges,
and
threatening
Trump’s
hecklers
with
organized
crime
charges.
Whenever
the
administration
needs
someone
with
actual
legal
credentials
to
say
something
utterly
deranged,
Blanche
steps
up.
Pirro,
meanwhile,
squeaked
past
Kash
Patel
by
fewer
than
20
votes
in
the
first
round,
which
is
impressive
for
someone
whose
primary
professional
skill
appears
to
be
losing
cases
before
they
even
start.
Her
old
bosses
at
Fox
privately
called
her
a
“reckless
maniac,”
which
at
the
time
seemed
harsh
but
seems
like
a
letter
of
recommendation
for
this
bracket.
She’s
been
collecting
no-bills
like
frequent
flyer
miles,
including
the
botched
effort
to
prosecute
Democratic
lawmakers
for
accurately
describing
the
law.
Your
call.
STEPHEN
MILLER
REGION:
(1)
Emil
Bove
vs.
(2)
Chad
Mizelle
The
man
who
told
government
lawyers
to
say
“f***
you”
to
federal
judges
versus
the
man
who
couldn’t
be
bothered
to
disclose
his
potential
conflicts
until
he
left
the
job.
Bove
is
now
a
Third
Circuit
judge
—
a
lifetime
appointment!
—
which
is
an
impressive
bit
of
failing
upward.
Before
ascending
to
the
bench,
he
reportedly
told
senior
DOJ
lawyers
that
deportation
flights
under
the
Alien
Enemies
Act
would
be
leaving
“no
matter
what”
and
if
any
court
tried
to
stop
them,
the
response
should
be…
well,
we
covered
this
already.
He’s
already
earned
bar
complaints
that
amounted
to
a
punt
from
authorities.
And
now
he’s
got
life
tenure.
Cool
system
we’ve
got
here.
Mizelle,
meanwhile,
left
the
DOJ
after
a
stint
as
Chief
of
Staff
marked
by
undisclosed
conflicts
with
companies
the
DOJ
was
actively
suing,
including
Apple,
Meta,
and
Visa.
He
didn’t
file
his
financial
disclosure
until
after
leaving
government,
which
is
sort
of
like
turning
in
your
marathon
registration
after
the
race.
He
also
tried
to
recruit
AUSAs
over
Twitter,
which
isn’t
necessarily
cause
for
discipline
but
certainly
undermined
the
public’s
perception
of
the
profession.
Bove
has
to
be
the
heavy
favorite
here.
The
“f***
you”
alone
is
doing
a
lot
of
heavy
lifting,
but
even
without
it,
his
trajectory
from
DOJ
attack
dog
to
federal
appellate
judge
perfectly
encapsulates
the
accountability
vacuum
this
whole
bracket
is
designed
to
highlight.
Polls
are
open
now.
Voting
will
continue
through
Monday
at
7:59
p.m.
Eastern.
Get
in
there
and
vote.
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
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a
Managing
Director
at
RPN
Executive
Search.
Kathryn
