Legal commentator and retired attorney Mark Pulliam said the legal establishment has “crossed the Rubicon” with a bar complaint targeting U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) General Counsel James Percival over his criticism of federal judges handling immigration cases.
Pulliam made the remarks during Monday’s edition of The Michael Patrick Leahy Show, where he discussed a complaint filed against Percival by the Democracy Defenders Fund, Lawyers Defending American Democracy, and 128 former state and federal judges.
Pulliam described the complaint as a new escalation in efforts by “activist judges, leftist law professors, and woke law firms” working together to silence conservative attorneys through professional discipline.
“They’ve reached a new troubling high water mark of dangerous aggressive behavior to stifle dissent and to crush their opponents,” he said. “And I use the trite metaphor that we’ve crossed the Rubicon.”
The complaint accuses Percival of violating Florida Rule of Professional Conduct 4-8.2(a), which prohibits lawyers from making statements they know to be false, or make with reckless disregard for their truth or falsity, concerning a judge’s qualifications or integrity.
Pulliam said Percival’s alleged offense was criticizing judges over their handling of litigation concerning the Trump administration’s termination of Temporary Protected Status (TPS) for certain migrants.
“He was the point man on all of this temporary protected status litigation,” Pulliam said.
Pulliam argued the Supreme Court’s ruling on the administration’s TPS authority was clear and that lower courts subsequently delayed implementation.
“The Supreme Court issued a 6-to-3 decision that could not have been clearer,” Pulliam said. “It’s right there in the law.”
According to Pulliam, Percival publicly raised similar concerns while the litigation continued.
“James Percival was not sitting around on his hands,” Pulliam said. “He was saying basically the same things that I was saying on this show, except nobody’s trying to pull my law license.”
Pulliam said the complaint represents a broader attempt to discourage attorneys from publicly criticizing judicial decisions.
“So they’re saying that a lawyer is not allowed to complain about or criticize the decisions or actions of a judge, no matter how egregious, no matter how lawless, no matter how ridiculous,” Pulliam said.
He argued the case demonstrates the growing influence of what he called the legal establishment’s “blob.”
“And this shows how brazen this blob has become,” Pulliam said. “And not just some random lawyer, but the guy who’s general counsel of the Department of Homeland Security.”
Pulliam also referenced previous disciplinary actions and complaints involving attorneys associated with conservative causes, including John Eastman, Rudy Giuliani, Sidney Powell, Jenna Ellis, Jeff Clark, and Ed Martin.
He said the Percival complaint is particularly significant because it involves a senior government attorney criticizing judges over ongoing litigation.
“This is really troubling,” Pulliam said.
Pulliam predicted Percival would ultimately prevail because the complaint was filed in Florida, although he acknowledged that defending against it could still consume significant time and resources.
“The reason he’s gonna win is because he’s in Florida,” Pulliam said.
The complaint against Percival follows prior criticism from Democratic-appointed judges and progressive legal organizations over his public statements about judicial decisions and immigration enforcement.
Pulliam said the overhead issue is whether attorneys can freely criticize judges and engage in controversial legal debate without risking professional discipline.
“What keeps people silent is, some of them get acculturated into the big law mentality and some of them, you know, make friends,” Pulliam said. “They don’t wanna alienate their friends and former colleagues.”
He added that some attorneys are reluctant to speak publicly because of the influence of professional organizations and disciplinary authorities.
“Then some of them are just afraid to speak up because this monster, this blob that’s been created over the last three or four or five decades just gets bigger and bigger and more powerful and more voracious in its appetite for power,” Pulliam said.
Pulliam’s comments echo arguments he previously made regarding Eastman’s disbarment in California, which he has characterized as part of a broader threat to attorneys who offer controversial legal advice.
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Kaitlin Housler is a reporter at The Tennessee Star and The Star News Network.
