Dear John,
In an important step for the legal profession and the rule of law, the Hearing Committee for the Board on Professional Responsibility of the DC Bar has issued a Report and Recommendation that Rudolph Giuliani be disbarred for actions he took in Pennsylvania to overturn the 2020 election. In its decision, the Hearing Committee noted that Mr. Giuliani’s misconduct took place in a context of efforts to destabilize our democracy by undermining our election system. The decision stated:
“Mr. Giuliani’s effort to undermine the integrity of the 2020 presidential election has helped destabilize our democracy. His malicious and meritless claims have done lasting damage and are antagonistic to the oath to ‘support the Constitution of the United States of America’ that he swore when he was admitted to the Bar. This is not a partisan political view…”
Lawyers Defending American Democracy filed a meticulously researched and detailed ethics complaint against Mr. Giuliani in January, 2021, that was supported and signed by leading ethics experts around the country.
Based on Mr. Giuliani’s pattern of continued misrepresentations and deceptions concerning the 2020 presidential election, LDAD’s complaint in New York took the unusual step of calling for his immediate suspension. Six months later, the Appellate Division of the Supreme Court of the State of New York ordered that Mr. Giuliani’s law license be suspended, pending completion of its disciplinary proceedings. The New York decision triggered an immediate reciprocal suspension in DC, again, pending DC’s separate investigation.
LDAD applauds the detailed and comprehensive decision of the DC Hearing Committee, and looks forward to the final decision of the Board on Professional Responsibility.
We are proud of the work that we have done and continue to do to ensure that lawyers are held accountable for undermining democracy and the rule of law. We ask for your help in ensuring that we can continue to do this and the other important work we do to protect democracy. Please click here to send your tax-deductible contribution.
We have much work ahead of us and are grateful for your support.
Signed,
The Board,
Lawyers Defending American Democracy
