If nothing else, lawyers always have an argument. Ad Hominem is a type of argument which desperate lawyers sometimes employ (and experienced judges frown upon) where the facts and/or the applicable law are not terribly helpful. Literally the term means “to the man,” and amounts to a personal attack on the opponent rather than an argument based on the particular facts of the case or the applicable law. If your opponent is correct on the law, and the facts are undisputed, arguing that he was a member of the Communist Party back in the 1950s (a la Senator Joseph McCarthy) amounts to a legally irrelevant personal attack which the justice system should not condone. Now, the political system . . .
— BBC&B