By Marilyn Odendahl
The Indiana Citizen
July 19, 2024
Prominent conservative attorney James Bopp Jr. has parted ways with Indiana Attorney General Todd Rokita’s office, withdrawing from ongoing cases and ending his $250,000 contract.
On Thursday, Bopp filed motions to withdraw from three of five cases he had been assigned. The motions did not provide any explanation for the exit but did note Bopp’s leaving could be “accomplished without material adverse effect on the interests of Mr. Rokita” because other attorneys are working on the cases.
All of the withdrawal motions cited to Indiana’s attorney professional conduct rule 1.16. The rule allows attorneys to terminate representation for various reasons, including that the departure will not cause a material adverse effect on the interests of the client.
Bopp did not offer any further details for the split in an email sent to The Indiana Citizen on Friday morning.
“I have resigned as outside counsel for the AG’s Office and withdrawn from the cases I was involved in,” Bopp wrote in his email. “I have no other comment.”
The attorney general’s office did not respond to a request for comment.
Bopp and his law firm had entered into a contract with Rokita’s office in April 2023. The Bopp Law Firm was hired to represent the state in civil lawsuits, civil appeals, enforcement of administrative orders and other matters.
After two amendments, the contract was set to end on Dec. 31, 2024, and the fees paid to Bopp were capped at $250,000.
As part of the contract, Bopp was granted a waiver by the attorney general’s office to continue representing the Indiana Right to Life Victory Fund in its challenge to the state’s campaign finance laws. While the case remains pending at the 7th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, Bopp scored a win by convincing a majority of the Indiana Supreme Court that the state statute could be read as unconstitutionally limiting corporate donations to super PACs.
AG Cases Assigned To Bopp
Bopp and his colleague, attorney Melena Siebert, each filed a motion for withdrawal in Rokita v. Tully 23A-PL-705, a dispute over whether an inspector general’s informal advisory opinion about Rokita’s previous moonlighting with Apex Benefits is a public document. The Court of Appeals of Indiana found that under a recently amended state law, the inspector general’s opinion is confidential. Indianapolis resident BarbaraTully, who wants access to the document, has asked the Indiana Supreme Court to review the case. Both sides have completed their briefing.
Also, Bopp and Siebert filed withdrawal motions from Diego Morales et al. v. John Rust, 23S-PL-371. The Bopp team defended Morales against the lawsuit Rust filed when he was blocked from running against Jim Banks in the May primary for the Republican nomination for U.S. Senate. The Indiana Supreme Court upheld the state law that kept Rust, an egg farmer in Seymour, off the ballot.
Rust has since appealed to the U.S. Supreme Court, but neither Bopp nor Siebert are listed as counsel for the state.
In a third case, Bopp and his colleague, attorney Joseph Maughon, filed withdrawal motions in Nicodemus v. City of South Bend, 24-1099, now pending before the 7th U.S. Circuit with oral arguments scheduled for Sept. 27. The plaintiff, Donald Nicodemus, a citizen-journalist, challenged the state’s buffer law prohibiting anyone from getting within 25 feet of a law enforcement officer after being order to stop. Rokita, represented by Bopp, intervened in the case and successfully defended the constitutionality of the statute in the Northern Indiana District Court.
None of the motions to withdraw filed by Bopp and his colleagues have been granted in either the Tully or Nicodemus cases. The Indiana Supreme Court did grant Bopp’s withdrawal motion in the Rust case.
Bopp was part of the team representing Rokita, Indiana Secretary of Education Katie Jenner and members of the Indiana State Board of Education in Board of School Commissioners for the City of Indianapolis v. Rokita, et al., 23A-PL-02729. The Board of School Commissioners was seeking an exemption from the state law that requires public schools to offer to charter schools any unused buildings for $1. After the trial court found for the plaintiffs, the state appealed in November 2023, but Bopp was no longer listed among the state’s attorneys.
Finally, Bopp and his colleague, Courtney Turner Milbank, are representing Sean Fagan, the LaPorte County prosecutor, against the county commissioners in Fagan v. the Board of Commissioners of the County of LaPorte, 46C01-2306-PL-1086. Fagan filed the lawsuit after he was denied access to the emails of his predecessor, John Lake. In May, the parties notified the court that they have reached a tentative settlement, but nothing since has been filed.
Unrelated to the work for the attorney general, Bopp and Siebert are also representing Notre Dame professors Stephanie Hall Barclay and Richard Garnett, who filed an amicus brief in support of the state’s abortion law in Members of the Medical Licensing Board of Indiana, et al. v. Anonymous Plaintiff 1, et al., 22A-PL-02938. The Indiana Court of Appeals ruled in favor of the plaintiffs in April, upholding the preliminary injunction and prohibiting the state from enforcing the abortion restrictions against women whose religious practices allow them to terminate their pregnancies. However, Barclay and Garnett argue that the COA erred in its ruling that said Indiana’s Religious Freedom Restoration Act allowed religious exemption to the abortion restrictions.
Dwight Adams, an editor and writer based in Indianapolis, edited this article. He has been a content editor, copy editor and digital producer at The Indianapolis Star and IndyStar.com, and a planner for other papers, including the Louisville Courier Journal.
The Indiana Citizen is a nonpartisan, nonprofit platform dedicated to increasing the number of informed and engaged Hoosier citizens. We are operated by the Indiana Citizen Education Foundation, Inc., a 501(c)(3) public charity. For questions about the story, contact Marilyn Odendahl at marilyn.odendahl@indianacitizen.org.
