Summary

Over 100 former presidents of the American Bar Association and other bar associations have issued an open letter condemning recent election lawsuits in swing states, calling them “unsubstantiated” and harmful to democracy.

The letter emphasizes that lawyers are duty-bound to present solid, fact-based cases and warns that baseless lawsuits erode public trust and misuse judicial resources.

The attorneys referenced disbarred lawyers like Rudy Giuliani as cautionary examples and urged legal professionals to uphold ethical standards. This initiative was led by the American Bar Association’s American Democracy Task Force.

    • EleventhHour
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      5516 days ago

      For what it’s worth, most of those involved in Trump‘s frivolous 2020 election denial lawsuits have been disbarred.

    • d00phy
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      1816 days ago

      Agreed. Won’t happen anytime soon, but agreed.

      Seriously it took a criminally long time for Rudy to see this particular, well deserved, consequence to his actions. I think he’s still licensed to practice somewhere, though.

      • @bostonbananarama@lemmy.world
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        1216 days ago

        Seriously it took a criminally long time for Rudy to see this particular, well deserved, consequence to his actions.

        Did it though? His actions followed the 2020 election, so they occurred at various times in 2021. Bar discipline isn’t occurring while the original cases are pending. Then there is a complaint filed, which has to be investigated, and if they find corroboration, then there needs to be an administrative hearing, akin to a trial.

        Please understand that this is a person’s livelihood and needs to be carefully considered. He was disbarred in the summer of 2024 in NY. I’ve had cases, not bar discipline, that take over 5 years to get to trial.

        To be clear, I’m absolutely in favor of disbarring shitty attorneys who don’t live up to their ethics obligations.

        • @RustyEarthfire@lemmy.world
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          216 days ago

          Also, he was suspended in July 2021, so the consequences were pretty quick, and only the final nail in the coffin was delayed.

    • EleventhHour
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      1816 days ago

      They tried to disbar her, but in an appeals case, she managed to scrape by with extremely heavy sanctions.

      • @DogPeePoo@lemm.ee
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        916 days ago

        Wtaf? How? She is a complete kook who will always be associated with “releAsiNg thE kRakEn!” and insane asylum caliber lies about a dead man (Hugo Chavez) controlling US elections.

        Her retaining her license is proof positive America is off the rails.

        • EleventhHour
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          16 days ago

          In most jurisdictions, it’s nearly impossible to disbar a lawyer, unless they were complicit in the criminal activity of their client. That, alone, is pretty fucked up.

          That’s why it took so goddamn long to disbar Rudy Giuliani.

  • @ExtremeDullard
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    216 days ago

    baseless lawsuits erode public trust

    Haha that was a good one. As if lawyers had any reputation to lose…

    Here’s an old joke:

    You’re in a cage with a wild angry gorilla and a lawyer and you have a revolver with 6 bullets: what do you do?
    Shoot the lawyer 6 times and try to reason with the gorilla.