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Bar Associations Condemn Targeting of Law Firms

April 2025

The Election Official Legal Defense Network (EOLDN) relies on volunteer attorneys to defend harassed election officials, regardless of the political climate. We are grateful for lawyers and law firms whose commitment to providing robust assistance to intimidated and targeted election officials does not waiver in the face of potential backlash.

With their profession under attack, a number of attorneys and leading legal organizations have taken a stand for the rule of law. The American Bar Association (ABA) released a statement, cosigned by 65 other bar associations, rejecting “efforts to remake the legal profession into something that rewards those who agree with the government and punishes those who do not.”

Many bar associations have followed suit with their own statements, and our supporters at the New York City Bar Association were among 11 metropolitan bars and 31 affiliate, specialty, regional, or local associations to sign a joint letter condemning the targeting of law firms and emphasizing the entitlement of every individual or entity to representation.

At this critical moment, EOLDN applauds the bravery and dedication of these leaders in the legal field.

“They’re citizens. They’re professionals. They’re our neighbors. If we start to view our fellow citizens as our enemies, we’re lost.”
— David Becker (Republican push to recruit election deniers as poll workers causes alarm | June 30, 2022 – The Guardian)
“Election officials never get praised if elections go right and the wrath comes down on them if they do them wrong. When we saw election officials being prosecuted for just doing their jobs... we formed [EOLDN] and we do provide pro bono legal services to any election officials who need it.”
— Ben Ginsberg (Trump’s pressure on Pence more ‘unprecedented’ than ‘what we saw in Watergate’ | June 17, 2022 – MSNBC)
“Those who are threatening … these officials, whether they're full-time, whether they're volunteers, whether they're in positions of the most senior responsibility or they're simply on the staff — those who threaten them need to know they cannot act with impunity. There will be a defense and it will be a robust defense."
— Bob Bauer (Helping election officials who are threatened | March 14, 2022 – 60 Minutes Overtime, CBS News)
"What we are seeing developing now is a huge step backwards from a focus on professionalized election administration to a heavy level of political interference in the work of trained election professionals. Our hope now is to provide [election officials] with a resource I wish they didn't have to have, but one I think they have desperately needed."
— Bob Bauer (Election Workers Are Under Attack. A Group Of Lawyers Plans To Defend Them | September 8, 2021 – National Public Radio)
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