American Bar Association took a stand

[Ms. Toad]

39. No. It doesn't.

It is a voluntary association of attorneys which help attorneys network, provides legal education, advocates for/drafts uniform laws, and accredits law schools. Basically it is a club for attorneys and people who care about the law in the United States.

Licensing is controlled by each jurisdiction or the court (e.g. federal courts have separate admission requirements). These entities are loosely referred to as the bar for the jurisdiction. (The ABA is NOT a bar). The bar in each jurisdiction has a disciplinary process - generally carried out by at least two tiers of hearings (the initial and an appeal of some sort). As a general rule - anyone can make a complaint about an attorney. Courts who adjudicate legal complaints about an attorney can refer an attorney to the ethics committee. In some instances, a committee may be able to self-initiate a complaint. Unless witnesses are called by the ethics committee, there is no opportunity for external input. They act pretty much like a court - no one gets to jump in from the outside and tell/suggest how the committee should decide.

The bar of each jurisdiction may adopt the Model Rules of Professional Conduct (drafted by the ABA) - or not. If they choose to adopt them, they may modify them. (The same goes for the multitude of model laws written by the ABA). That adoption of an ethics code is generally a decision made by the highest court in that jurisdiction. But all they are doing is adopting (or not) a set of rules - not advice on how they should apply the rules in any particular case. It's roughly the same process that happens in a legislative body - the body adopts the laws (which might consider a model rule drafted by the ABA) and a distinct group (the courts) decides whether any individual person violated the law.

Just as the ABA wouldn't jump into a court dispute over whether someone violated a rule they drafted - which was adopted by a state, they wouldn't jump into a disciplinary matter over whether someone violated the ethical rule they drafted - even if the bar in that jurisdiction adopted the rules drafted by the verbatim. The ABA's involvement in the law is limited to proposing a framework - not intervening in cases applying that framework to a particular person.