DON’T TELL THAT GUY WHO SAID "FIRST THING WE DO IS KILL ALL THE LAWYERS" ABOUT THIS! Federal taxpayers spent $26.2 billion between 2007 and 2014 on more than 25,000 lawyers working for Uncle Sam, according to the Daily Caller News Foundation Investigative Group’s Ethan Barton.

 

Barton’s story is based on a new report from Open The Books, the nonprofit watchdog that tracks spending at all levels of government. Open The Books’ founder and report author Adam Andrzejewski said the highest paid lawyer in the federal establishment in 2014 received $266,649. Andrzejewski also found that more than 50 attorneys on the federal payroll got more than $250,000 during the period.

 

"The lawyers aren’t the problem per se," the report said. "They simply serve at the pleasure of entrenched politicians and bureaucrats. Federal spending on attorneys both reflects and perpetuates the size, scope, expanse and inertia of today’s federal government."