
Justice Department expands its retribution to American Bar Association
CBSN
Amid a tumultuous and controversial campaign of executive orders targeting major law firms, the Justice Department is now adding the American Bar Association to its target list, according to a memo obtained by CBS News.
In the memo dated Friday and shared with Justice Department employees, Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche ordered that "the Department of Justice will no longer use taxpayer funds to pay for any travel to or engagement with ABA events. Additionally, department employees may not, when acting in their official capacities, speak at, attend, or otherwise participate in events hosted by the ABA."
The memo from Blanche, who previously served as Trump's private defense attorney, blasts the American Bar Association as "activist" and willing to "insert itself into pending litigation." The ABA is a professional organization for lawyers, judges and law students in the U.S., and with about 400,000 members, it's the largest voluntary professional organization for lawyers in the world.

For nearly three agonizing years, Mariah Freschi and her husband have been trying to have a second baby. The California mother recently underwent surgery to remove her blocked fallopian tubes, leaving in vitro fertilization as her only option to get pregnant. But the cost quoted by her Sacramento-area clinic was $25,000 — out of reach for Freschi, a preschool teacher, and her husband, a warehouse worker.