April 24, 2025
Johnson was set to speak at the bar’s annual meeting in San Antonio for Juneteenth. However, the Texas State Bar disinvited Johnson because the NAACP is challenging President Donald Trump’s executive order to dismantle the Department of Education.
The Texas State Bar has rescinded its Juneteenth invitation to NAACP President and CEO Derrick Johnson over the organization’s lawsuit against the Trump administration.
Johnson was set to speak at the bar’s annual meeting in San Antonio on Juneteenth, a day commemorating the day in 1865 when the last of the enslaved learned they were free. However, the Texas State Bar disinvited Johnson because the NAACP is challenging President Donald Trump’s executive order to dismantle the Department of Education.
State Bar Executive Director Trey Apffel told The Hill that having Johnson speak violates new rules regarding speaking topics that the bar could consider political.
“The State Bar is under the oversight of the Supreme Court of Texas, which has directed that the State Bar must avoid even the appearance of politics in everything it does,” said Apffel.
Apffel said the bar was unaware of the lawsuit until it began circulating in the press. As of 2023, the bar is required to limit what information it can communicate to issues related to the practice of law. The Texas Supreme Court has administrative control over the group. It has mandated the bar to stay clear of anything that is perceived as political or ideological, according to the Associated Press.
The bar views the NAACP’s lawsuit as a political move, as it is taking on the federal government.
In his statement to The Hill, Apffel added, “The State Bar of Texas is following these directives by choosing keynote speakers for its Annual Meeting who are not involved in active, high-profile political battles because to do otherwise could imply endorsement of their political views.”
Johnson Calls Out Texas State Bar For Hypocrisy
However, Johnson is calling out the bar for hypocrisy because the bar allowed U.S. Attorney General William Barr to speak at the 2023 annual meeting. Apffel claims that when Barr said in 2023, he was a former officeholder “whose role as the attorney general and thoughts on legal matters, both pro- and anti-Trump, were relevant to a legal audience.”
Johnson disagrees with the bar’s view on the lawsuit against the Trump administration.
“It is a case questioning whether or not there is constitutional authority for the president to take a certain action. That’s not political. That’s the job of lawyers. That is the job of the NAACP,” said Johnson.
Johnson said during a phone call in February with Apffel and other state bar leaders, he was asked not to make his speech political, to which he agreed. That’s why he’s shocked by the Texas State Bar’s decision.
“They have decided to censure free speech on notions of being political when it’s not political,” Johnson told The Associated Press. “This is the State Bar of Texas. These are lawyers who are sworn to uphold the Constitution of the United States. And nothing about our actions is contrary to the very principles that they have sworn to uphold. And so, I find it ironic, to say the least, that a lawsuit would generate a rescission of the invitation.”
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