Webster v. Commission for Lawyer Discipline

Held that a disciplinary complaint collaterally accusing the first-assistant state attorney general of making misrepresentations in a petition filed in the U.S. Supreme Court alleging 2020 election “irregularities” violated separation-of-powers principles. While the judicial branch (and the lawyer discipline commission derivatively) has the power to enforce compliance with conduct rules, the attorney general (and his first assistant derivatively) has exclusive authority to assess the propriety of filing suit and of “the representations forming the basis of the petitions that he files.” If the contents of those pleadings are objectionable, permitting the court to which the pleadings are presented to scrutinize the contents and discipline the attorney general’s office “wholly accommodates the legitimate interests of all branches of government.” But a disciplinary complaint arising outside the litigation in which the challenged statements were made, “improperly invade[s] the executive branch’s prerogatives and risk[s] the politicization and thus the independence of the judiciary.”