(Photo by Joe Raedle/Getty)
Our annual bracket challenge has ended and when we asked readers which Trump administration lawyer most needs to see their law license revoked, you all agreed that Pam Bondi deserved the honor. As it turned out, her mid-competition firing did nothing to dampen voter enthusiasm for licensing authorities to consider her actions as Attorney General and protect the public with harsh sanctions aimed at keeping the head of this disgraceful Justice Department from “transitioning to a much needed and important new job in the private sector” — as she apparently plans to do.
Bondi’s victory in this competition carries an extra layer of meaning because Florida regulators already brushed off a robust ethics complaint by contriving an exception barring ethical investigations of “sitting officers appointed under the U.S. Constitution while they are in office.”
Not a problem anymore!
In the end, it wasn’t even close.
Before being drummed out of office, Bondi proposed a new regulation that would prevent licensing authorities from investigating current or former DOJ lawyers. She’s really depending on the second half of that rule coming to fruition now. A coalition of 129 former judges just called on Blanche — running the Department on a temporary basis — to junk the rule, effectively throwing his former boss under the bus. Given that Blanche finished second in this competition, readers don’t seem particularly eager to trust his professional judgment either.
Bondi’s test will come soon enough. The folks behind the original bar complaint against her ethically fraught management of the DOJ plan to lodge another complaint soon, citing the fact that the Florida Bar can no longer cower behind its “constitutional officer” excuse.
Congratulations, Pam. They may take away your license, but they’ll never take away your 2026 ATL Bracket victory!
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.
