In an alarming development reminiscent of authoritarian tactics, a group calling itself "The 65 Project" has launched a campaign targeting attorneys who have chosen to represent former President Donald Trump. While claiming to defend democracy, their methods raise serious concerns about the erosion of legal rights and the weaponization of professional oversight.
Presenting itself as a "bipartisan" watchdog, The 65 Project has initiated aggressive digital and print advertisements in pivotal swing states like Wisconsin and Michigan. The stark warning blares: "Don't lose your law license because of Trump." According to managing director Michael Teter, the group has already filed 86 bar complaints against attorneys involved in election lawsuits on behalf of Trump following the 2020 election.
“Across the country, lawyers who lent their credibility as officers of the court to Donald Trump to file factually and legally baseless claims to overturn legitimate election results have been investigated by state bar associations, been fined, had their licenses suspended, and even disbarred,” Teter proclaimed.
After the 2020 election, Trump alleged widespread electoral fraud, prompting multiple lawsuits in states such as Georgia and Pennsylvania. While many of these legal challenges did not succeed, the concerted effort to punish attorneys representing these cases has been strikingly effective.
Former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani, who represented Trump in a Georgia election lawsuit, was disbarred in Washington, D.C., last month—just months after losing his law license in New York. The panel that suspended his license accused Giuliani of claiming “massive election fraud but had no evidence," a charge that has been hotly debated.
The 65 Project has publicly listed lawyers against whom it has filed ethics complaints. Among them are former Trump lawyer Jenna Ellis, involved in an Arizona election case; Kurt Olsen, who represented Arizona gubernatorial candidate Kari Lake in her 2022 election challenge; and Harvard Law School Professor Emeritus Alan Dershowitz.
Dershowitz has condemned the group's actions as "pure McCarthyism." Speaking to Just the News, he stated, "They already filed a complaint against me. It’s pure McCarthyism. And unethical. And it’s scaring some lawyers away."
Despite its assertive stance, The 65 Project maintains that it aims to "protect democracy and preserve the rule of law by deterring future attacks on our electoral system." They claim to hold accountable what they term "Big Lie Lawyers" who file "fraudulent and malicious lawsuits to overturn legitimate election results."
Trump has consistently argued that he is the target of politically motivated legal attacks, or "lawfare," extending beyond election integrity issues to his personal life and business affairs. Dershowitz echoed this concern earlier this year on the Just the News, No Noise TV show, revealing that lawyers are being deterred from representing Trump due to fear of professional retribution.
"I know lawyers who have been asked to defend Donald Trump on First Amendment grounds," Dershowitz said. "They would normally take the case, but they say, 'We can't afford it for our family because they're coming after our bar license.'"
He further warned of a resurgence of oppressive tactics reminiscent of the McCarthy era, driven by a younger generation willing to compromise foundational legal principles.
The actions of The 65 Project raise profound questions about the state of legal advocacy and the preservation of the adversarial system that is central to justice. When representing a client becomes a perilous endeavor, the very foundations of legal representation and, by extension, democracy itself, may be at risk.
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