Stefani Reynolds/Zuma
Former Trump attorney Rudy Giuliani has been suspended from practicing law in New York due to his “demonstrably false and misleading” statements about the 2020 presidential election.
A New York appellate court’s decision to temporarily disbar Giuliani is a remarkable fall from grace for the man once heralded as “America’s Mayor.” In a 33-page ruling, the court found that Giuliani violated the Rules of Professional Conduct by repeatedly lying in his allegations of voter fraud.
“These false statements were made to improperly bolster respondent’s narrative that due to widespread voter fraud, victory in the 2020 United States presidential election was stolen from his client,” the decision reads. “We conclude that respondent’s conduct immediately threatens the public interest and warrants interim suspension from the practice of law.”
While Giuliani will have the opportunity to fight the suspension, the court wrote that “the uncontroverted misconduct in itself will likely result in substantial permanent sanctions at the conclusion of these disciplinary proceedings.”
Giuliani’s lawyers said in a statement that they were disappointed with the decision and that they were confident their client would be reinstated as a lawyer. “This is unprecedented as we believe that our client does not pose a present danger to the public interest,” they wrote.
Either way, as Congress still mulls action after the failure to enact a bipartisan commission to examine the causes of the January 6 riot on the Capitol, Giuliani’s suspension from practicing law could be as close as the United States gets to justice for the Trump administration’s incitement of violence and undermining of faith in the election system.
Be sure to check out Giuliani’s son’s poorly composed video rant responding to this perceived injustice:
Earlier this hour, 5 Leftist judges decided to suspend my father @rudygiuliani’s law license. Here is my statement: pic.twitter.com/A3O0buL6LG
— Andrew H. Giuliani (@AndrewHGiuliani) June 24, 2021
This post’s headline has been updated to clarify that Giuliani’s suspension is temporary.
