Labor Dept Orders Lawyers: Cut Ties with ‘Radical’ ABA Activist Group
On Monday, the Department of Labor’s Trump-appointed Solicitor Jonathan Berry told staff to stop engaging with the American Bar Association (ABA) in their official capacities.
Berry noted in an email to Fox News Digital that the organization “engages in liberal activism and that any federal participation would only boost its influence.”
Trump-appointed Solicitor Jonathan Berry wrote in an email that the hundreds of attorneys at the Department of Labor are not to use taxpayer funds to participate in any ABA events or use their government job titles at them, according to a copy of the email reviewed by Fox News Digital.
“The ABA is strategically equivocal about its ideological stance,” Berry wrote. “Equivocal in that the ABA holds itself out as non-ideological at certain times, but takes decidedly radical ideological positions at others.”
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“There is genuine benefit to our attorneys engaging with the employer bar in ABA programs, but the benefit genuinely feeds the problem too: Our participation in ‘neutral’ ABA events contributes to institutional stature the ABA leverages to advance radical goals as if they were ‘neutral,’” Berry wrote. “No more.”
ABA, a voluntary professional organization for lawyers that describes itself as nonpartisan, is supposed to focus on advancing the “rule of law, professional standards, and access to justice.”
However, many of the positions the organization adopts align with leftist propaganda, and critics argue it is essentially a trade association for America’s 1.3 million lawyers—a cartel with positions including:
Advocacy for Abortion Access: The ABA has long opposed laws restricting reproductive rights, viewing them as threats to bodily autonomy and health. It supported Roe v. Wade and, post-Dobbs (2022), has urged protections for abortion providers and patients, including through amicus briefs in related cases.
Positions on LGBTQ+ Rights and Gender-Affirming Care: The ABA has advocated for protections against discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity, including support for gender-affirming healthcare for minors and transgender individuals.
Gun Control: Through its Standing Committee on Gun Violence, the ABA promotes measures like background checks, assault weapon bans, and red-flag laws, framing them as public safety initiatives.
Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) Initiatives: The ABA requires accredited law schools to promote DEI in admissions and faculty hiring, which some critics describe as enforcing “woke” ideology and potentially violating anti-discrimination laws.
In addition, ABA collaborates with leftist organizations, including the ACLU, NAACP Legal Defense Fund, and Lambda Legal, on issues such as voting rights, immigration reform, and anti-discrimination laws.
ABA’s judicial ratings have also been accused of downgrading conservative nominees while favoring liberals.
In May of 2025, the Justice Department notified the organization in a letter from U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi that it would no longer comply with its ratings process for judicial nominees.
“For several decades, the American Bar Association has received special treatment and enjoyed special access to judicial nominees,” Bondi said in the letter. “In some administrations, the ABA received notice of nominees before a nomination was announced to the public. Some administrations would even decide whether to nominate an individual based on a rating assigned by the ABA.”
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