Labor Department Bars Staff Lawyers From Official ABA Participation

Trump‑appointed Solicitor of Labor Jonathan Berry has ordered all Department of Labor attorneys to stop engaging with the American Bar Association (ABA) in their official capacities, telling staff in a Monday email they may not use taxpayer funds to attend ABA events or appear there using their government titles. Berry’s directive, obtained by Fox News, calls the ABA a "radical" ideological organization that presents itself as neutral while backing positions such as LGBTQ+ rights, abortion access, stricter gun control and DEI initiatives, and argues federal participation only bolsters its influence. The move follows similar Trump‑era actions: the Justice Department last year cut off advance ABA vetting of judicial nominees and tried to terminate more than $3 million in ABA grants before a judge found that defunding unconstitutional, and the Federal Trade Commission severed ties with the ABA’s antitrust section, accusing it of serving "Big Tech." Republicans have long criticized the ABA as biased toward Democrats, while the bar group describes itself as the "national voice of the legal profession" and has condemned what it calls Trump’s "wide-scale affronts to the rule of law." Berry said that although there can be "genuine benefit" to interacting with private‑sector lawyers at ABA programs, that benefit "feeds the problem" by enhancing the ABA’s institutional stature, and concluded, "No more."