HOUSTON (AP) — The State Bar of Texas rescinded a speaking invitation to the NAACP’s president after the civil rights group challenged the Trump administration’s dismantling of the Education Department, citing new rules over speaking topics the bar says could be deemed political.
Derrick Johnson, the NAACP’s president and CEO, had been set to speak during the state bar’s annual meeting in June in San Antonio. He said Wednesday he was shocked his invitation to speak was taken away.
“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.”
Johnson was set to speak on the Juneteenth holiday, which marks the day in 1865 when the last enslaved people in the U.S. learned they were free.
At issue is a lawsuit the NAACP and other civil rights and education groups filed in March against President Donald Trump’s executive order to dismantle the Education Department. The lawsuit argues the administration’s cuts will hobble mandated functions like protecting students from discrimination or funding educational programs.
Trey Apffel, the executive director of the state bar, said his organization rescinded the speaking invitation because the NAACP's lawsuit violated state bar rules that call for it to be politically neutral. He said the bar had been unaware of the lawsuit until learning about it in the press.
The bar is required by law, including a November 2023 ruling by the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, to limit what information it can communicate to issues related to the practice of law.
The bar, which regulates the legal profession in Texas, is also mandated by the Texas Supreme Court, which has administrative control over the group, to stay clear of anything “even having the perception of being political or ideological,” Apffel said.
The bar views the NAACP’s lawsuit as “political because it is taking on the federal government on an executive order of the president,” Apffel said.
Johnson said he disagrees with Apffel’s view of the lawsuit.
“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,” Johnson said.
During a phone call in February with Apffel and other state bar leaders, Johnson said, he was asked to not make his speech political in any way and he agreed.
In a letter sent to Apffel and the bar earlier Wednesday, Johnson said there was a “glaring inconsistency” in the group’s decision to rescind his invitation but to allow former U.S. Attorney General William Barr to speak at the 2023 annual meeting.
The bar was criticized by some of its members for inviting Barr to speak, citing his actions during the first Trump administration, including authorizing federal prosecutors across the U.S. to pursue allegations of voting irregularities before the 2020 presidential election had been certified despite no evidence of widespread fraud.
Apffel said when Barr spoke 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.”
In a column written before Barr’s appearance, Laura Gibson, a former president of the state bar, defended the decision to have Barr speak.
“It is easy to defend the rights of speakers we agree with, but it is essential to the rule of law that we also defend the rights of speakers with whom we disagree,” Gibson said. “In these polarized times, it seems we’re in danger of losing that. As lawyers, we should be in the forefront of protecting unpopular or controversial speech.”
With tighter restrictions in place today by the bar on what can be said, Barr would not have been allowed to speak, Apffel said.
“I have great respect for Derrick Johnson and his position as president of the NAACP," Apffel said. "And I have great respect for the NAACP and what they do and what they stand for.”
He said Johnson's replacement, former Texas Supreme Court Chief Justice Wallace B. Jefferson, who is Black, will speak on the significance of Juneteenth.
“We are in an intersection point in our democracy," Johnson said. "Are we going to uphold the Constitution and ensure that this speech is something that we value, or are we going to take a different approach?”
Follow Juan A. Lozano: https://twitter.com/juanlozano70
FILE - Derrick Johnson, president and CEO of the NAACP, speaks before President Joe Biden arrives at the National Museum of African American History and Culture in Washington, Friday, May 17, 2024. (AP Photo/Susan Walsh, File)
ANKARA, Turkey (AP) — Russia and Ukraine are set to hold their first direct peace talks in three years, both countries said Thursday, but hopes for a breakthrough remained dim after Russian President Vladimir Putin spurned an offer by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy to meet face-to-face in Turkey.
Zelenskyy said he is sending a team headed by his defense minister from the Turkish capital Ankara to Istanbul to meet a Russian delegation, even though Moscow's side doesn’t include “anyone who actually makes decisions.”
The Ukrainian side would be headed by Defense Minister Rustem Umerov, and its aim is “to attempt at least the first steps toward de-escalation, the first steps toward ending the war — namely, a ceasefire,” he said.
Few had expected Putin to show up in Turkey, and his absence punctured any hope of significant progress toward ending the 3-year-old war amid peace efforts in recent months by the Trump administration and Western European leaders. It also raised the prospect of intensified international sanctions on Russia that have been threatened by the West.
Zelenskyy, who flew Thursday to Ankara after challenging Putin to sit down with him, accused Moscow of not making a serious effort to end the war by sending a low-level negotiating team that he described as “a theater prop.”
His proposal to Putin came amid a flurry of maneuvering last weekend as each side sought a diplomatic advantage.
Zelenskyy said he decided to send the delegation to Istanbul to demonstrate to U.S. President Donald Trump that Ukraine wants to end the fighting.
The war has killed tens of thousands of soldiers on both sides and more than 12,000 Ukrainian civilians, according to the U.N. Russian forces are preparing a fresh military offensive, Ukrainian government and Western military analysts say.
At least five civilians were killed and 29 wounded in the past day, according to authorities in five eastern regions of Ukraine where Russia is trying to advance.
The head of the Russian delegation, presidential aide Vladimir Medinsky, said in Istanbul that the representatives were ready to meet Ukrainian officials.
“The task of these direct negotiations with Ukraine is to establish long-term peace sooner or later by eliminating the root causes of this conflict,” he said in a brief statement.
It was not clear when they would meet. Medinsky said late Thursday that the Russian delegation would be waiting for Ukrainian officials at 10 a.m. Friday.
U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio said he would confer Friday in Istanbul with Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan and the Ukrainian delegation, adding that the Russian delegation would be meeting with other members of the U.S. team and that he hoped all sides could get together.
“We don’t have high expectations of what will happen tomorrow. And frankly, at this point, I think it’s abundantly clear that the only way we’re going to have a breakthrough here is between President Trump and President Putin,” Rubio told reporters in Antalya, Turkey, where he was attending a NATO foreign ministers meeting.
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan earlier welcomed Zelenskyy to the presidential palace in Ankara for their own talks. Zelenskyy heads Friday to Albania for a gathering of European officials.
The diplomatic maneuvering began Saturday when European leaders met Zelenskyy in Kyiv and urged the Kremlin to agree to a full, unconditional 30-day ceasefire as a first step toward peace. Putin responded early Sunday by proposing direct talks with Ukraine in Istanbul. Then came Zelenskyy's challenge to Putin for face-to-face talks.
After days of silence, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov finally said Thursday that Putin had no plans to travel to Istanbul in the next few days.
Trump said he was not surprised that Putin was a no-show. He had pressed for Putin and Zelenskyy to meet but brushed off the Kremlin leader’s decision not to attend.
“I didn’t think it was possible for Putin to go if I’m not there,” Trump told reporters in Doha, Qatar, on the third day of his visit to the Middle East.
Trump said a meeting between him and Putin was crucial to breaking the deadlock.
“I don’t believe anything’s going to happen whether you like it or not, until (Putin) and I get together,” he said on Air Force One while traveling from Doha to Abu Dhabi, the capital of the United Arab Emirates. “But we’re going to have to get it solved because too many people are dying.”
Peskov said Putin has no plans to meet with Trump in the coming days.
Medinsky, Putin's aide, is leading the Russian team that also includes three other senior officials, the Kremlin said. Putin also appointed four lower-level officials as “experts” for the talks in Istanbul.
Also absent from the talks were Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov and Putin’s foreign policy adviser Yuri Ushakov, both of whom represented Russia at talks with the U.S. in Saudi Arabia in March.
The top-level Ukrainian delegation included Umerov, Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha and the head of the Ukrainian presidential office, Andriy Yermak, a Ukrainian official said. Zelenskyy will sit at the negotiating table only with Putin, said presidential adviser Mykhailo Podolyak.
Putin met Wednesday with senior government officials and members of the delegation in preparation for the talks, Peskov said. Defense Minister Andrei Belousov, General Staff chief Valery Gerasimov and National Security Council secretary Sergei Shoigu attended.
The Kremlin billed the Istanbul talks as a “restart” of peace negotiations held there in 2022 that quickly collapsed. Moscow accused Ukraine and the West of wanting to continue fighting, while Kyiv said Russia’s demands amounted to an ultimatum, not something both sides could agree on. That delegation also was also headed by Medinsky.
Putin's proposal came after more than three months of diplomacy kick-started by Trump, who promised during his campaign to end the war swiftly, although it's been hard to pull off. The Trump administration in recent weeks indicated it might walk away from the effort if there was no tangible progress soon.
Sybiha, the Ukrainian foreign minister, met with Rubio and Sen. Lindsey Graham on Wednesday night in Antalya.
Sybiha reaffirmed Ukraine’s support for Trump’s mediation efforts and thanked the U.S. for its continued involvement, urging Moscow to “reciprocate Ukraine’s constructive steps” toward peace. "So far, it has not,” Sybiha said.
On Thursday morning, Sybiha also met with other European foreign ministers, including his French counterpart, Jean-Noël Barrot, who in a post on X reiterated the call for a ceasefire and the threat of “massive sanctions” if Russia doesn't comply.
“We’re in a very difficult spot right now, and we hope that we can find the steps forward that provide for the end of this war in a negotiated way and the prevention of any war in the future," Rubio said Thursday.
British Prime Minister Keir Starmer accused Putin of “standing in the way of peace.”
“There was only one country that started this conflict — that was Russia. That was Putin. There’s only one country now standing in the way of peace — that is Russia. That is Putin,” he said in a visit to Tirana, Albania.
Barrot echoed that sentiment: “In front of Ukrainians, there is an empty chair, one that should have been occupied by Vladimir Putin,” he said. Putin "is dragging his feet and in all evidence does not want to enter into these peace discussions.”
Associated Press writers Lorne Cook in Brussels; Illia Novikov and Samya Kullab in Kyiv, Ukraine; Dasha Litvinova in Tallinn, Estonia; Aamer Madhani in Dubai, United Arab Emirates; and Matthew Lee in Antalya, Turkey, contributed to this report.
Follow AP’s coverage of the war in Ukraine at https://apnews.com/hub/russia-ukraine
Airport workers prepare a carpet before arrival of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy at Esenboga airport in Ankara, Turkey, Thursday, May 15, 2025. (AP Photo/Evgeniy Maloletka)
Russian presidential aide, Vladimir Medinsky, gives an statement to journalists at the Russian consulate in Istanbul, Turkey, Thursday, May 15, 2025. (AP Photo/Francisco Seco)
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy talks to journalists at the Ukrainian Embassy in Ankara, Turkey, Thursday, May 15, 2025. (AP Photo/Evgeniy Maloletka)
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy talks to journalists at the Ukrainian Embassy in Ankara, Turkey, Thursday, May 15, 2025. (AP Photo/Evgeniy Maloletka)
In this handout photo released by Turkish Presidency, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, right, shakes hands with his Ukrainian counterpart Volodymyr Zelenskyy during their meeting at the Presidential palace in Ankara, Thursday, May 15, 2025. (Turkish Presidency via AP)
Ayse Sahil, whose family emigrated from Bolshevik in Russia, holds a board near Dolmabahce palace where talks between Russian and Ukrainian delegations are expected, in Istanbul, Turkey, Thursday, May 15, 2025. (AP Photo/Dilara Acikgoz)
Turkish security members stand guard at Dolmabahce palace where talks between Russian and Ukrainian delegations are expected, in Istanbul, Turkey, Thursday, May 15, 2025. (AP Photo/Dilara Acikgoz)
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy walks down the stairs from his plane upon his arrival at Esenboga airport in Ankara, Turkey, Thursday, May 15, 2025. (AP Photo/Evgeniy Maloletka)
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy gestures to journalists as he leaves upon his arrival at Esenboga airport in Ankara, Turkey, Thursday, May 15, 2025. (AP Photo/Evgeniy Maloletka)
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy talks to journalists as he arrives at Esenboga airport in Ankara, Turkey, Thursday, May 15, 2025. (AP Photo/Evgeniy Maloletka)
Ukrainian official plane, background, with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy on board lands at Esenboga airport in Ankara, Turkey, Thursday, May 15, 2025. (AP Photo/Evgeniy Maloletka)
Russian President Vladimir Putin attends a meeting on forthcoming Russia-Ukraine talks in Istanbul, in Moscow, Russia, Wednesday, May 14, 2025. (Alexander Kazakov, Sputnik, Kremlin Pool Photo via AP)
Russian President Vladimir Putin attends a meeting on forthcoming Russia-Ukraine talks in Istanbul, in Moscow, Russia, Wednesday, May 14, 2025. (Alexander Kazakov, Sputnik, Kremlin Pool Photo via AP)
