Labor Department tells lawyers to cut ties with American Bar Association over its liberal activism

The Department of Labor's top solicitor told his team Monday to end their relationships with the American Bar Association in their official capacities because of the organization's alleged liberal activism.

Labor Department Solicitor Jonathan Berry told hundreds of attorneys in the department not to participate in ABA events on the taxpayer's dime moving forward or use their official government titles at ABA events, according to Fox News. 

"The ABA is strategically equivocal about its ideological stance," Berry wrote in an email to his staff. "Equivocal in that the ABA holds itself out as non-ideological at certain times, but takes decidedly radical ideological positions at others."

Berry said that the left-wing bias in the association is part of a larger "institutional" problem and that although there are benefits to engaging with the ABA, it "feeds the problem too." 

"Our participation in ‘neutral’ ABA events contributes to institutional stature the ABA leverages to advance radical goals as if they were ‘neutral,’" Berry wrote. "No more."

The email was not the first time that the Trump administration has accused the association of having a left-wing bias. The Justice Department last year said it would no longer vet judicial nominees through the ABA because it failed to fix the bias in its ratings on President Donald Trump's nominees.

The ABA website itself notes that it's a "national voice of the legal profession" but largely showcases work that includes support for left-leaning priorities such as "LGBTQ+" initiatives, abortion access and Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI) projects.

Misty Severi is a news reporter for Just The News. You can follow her on X for more coverage.