The New York City Bar Association called on Congress to open formal inquiries into the conduct of U.S. Attorney General William Barr, citing multiple public statements that the organization said threaten “public confidence in the fair and impartial administration of justice.”

In a Jan. 8 letter to congressional leaders, the city bar decried a “pattern” of behavior that was inconsistent with the office of the attorney general and positioned Department of Justice lawyers as “political partisans willing to use the levers of government to empower certain groups over others.”