Marking the eleventh anniversary of the July 2015 “709 Crackdown” on rights lawyers, Chinese Human Rights Defenders reported this week on a draft amendment to China’s Lawyers Law, published by the National People’s Congress on June 26, that would require lawyers to “uphold the leadership of the Communist Party of China” and its “socialist rule of law,” while obligating law firms to establish internal CCP organizations. Lawyers surveyed described the ideological-loyalty requirement as “unprecedented,” noting that such demands previously applied only to Party members. The measure would formally conscript the legal profession into service of one-party rule, converting independent advocates into instruments expected to legitimize state authority. Authorities have already stripped at least 20 lawyers of their licenses and sanctioned 26 more since 2015, underscoring how the reform would deepen state capture of the bar.