Former President Trump’s attorney Rudolph Giuliani has been suspended from practicing law in the state of New York.
A 33-page order on Thursday from the Supreme Court of the State of New York said Mr. Giuliani, a former prosecutor and mayor of New York, violated rules of professional conduct with his advocacy of claims of election fraud in the 2020 presidential election.
Mr. Giuliani was admitted to practice law in New York in 1969.
“There is uncontroverted evidence that respondent communicated demonstrably false and misleading statements to courts, lawmakers and the public at large in his capacity as lawyer for former President Donald J. Trump and the Trump campaign in connection with Trump’s failed effort at reelection in 2020,” the order read.
“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 court concluded Mr. Giuliani’s conduct threatens the “public interest.”
The complaint was brought by the Attorney Grievance Committee for the First Judicial Department, as Mr. Giuliani operates a law office within that jurisdiction.
Mr. Giuliani did not immediately respond to a request for comment. He has 20 days to request a post-suspension hearing with the court.
Mr. Giuliani had argued his statements about the 2020 election were protected by the First Amendment, but the court did not agree, ruling that the disciplinary action against Mr. Giuliani is related to him violating ethics rules by making false statements to a court while representing a client.
“It is long recognized that ’speech by an attorney is subject to greater regulation than speech by others,’” the court held.
Specifically, the court took issue with Mr. Giuliani’s statements on radio programs that Pennsylvania had more absentee ballots received during the 2020 election than were sent out to voters. The court said 3.08 million absentee ballots were mailed out in reality, and 2.5 million were tallied.
The order also referenced Mr. Giuliani’s claims that minors and felons voted in Georgia and illegal residents had voted in Arizona, which the court concluded were false statements.
“The seriousness of [Mr. Giuliani’s] uncontroverted misconduct cannot be overstated. This country is being torn apart by continued attacks on the legitimacy of the 2020 election and of our current president, Joseph R. Biden,” the order read.
Mr. Giuliani also made “wide-ranging claims” about Dominion Voting Systems manipulating the vote count, according to the court’s findings.
But the order didn’t say whether his comments were false, pointing to a defamation lawsuit filed by Dominion against Mr. Giuliani that is still pending.
Mr. Trump commented on the suspension in disbelief.
“Can you believe that New York wants to strip Rudy Giuliani, a great American Patriot, of his law license because he has been fighting what has already been proven to be a Fraudulent Election? The greatest Mayor in the history of New York City, the Eliot Ness of his generation, one of the greatest crime fighters our Country has ever known, and this is what the Radical Left does to him,” the former president said.
• Dave Boyer can be reached at dboyer@washingtontimes.com.
• Alex Swoyer can be reached at aswoyer@washingtontimes.com.
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