Disbar the lawyer/legislators who helped set our country on fire!

(Header quote from earlier Florida Bar complaint against Rep. Matt Gaetz)

We have a list of the lawyer/legislators involved in possible ethics violations AND promoting the overthrow of a presidential election here. (Hmmm….they do not seem interested in de-seating themselves!)
We have a list of ALL the legislators involved in Trump’s campaign to overthrow the election here.

Action #1: Put the American Bar Association on notice that their professionals have gone rogue.

We’re not focusing on the melting-sideburns guy or the kraken lady. Rep. Bill Pascrell Jr. (D-N.J.) has got that covered – he’s filed complaints in five states seeking to disbar Rudy Giuliani and 22 other lawyers affiliated with Trump’s campaign for frivolous lawsuits and “conduct involving dishonesty, fraud, deceit or misrepresentation.” More that 1,500 lawyers have already contacted the American Bar Association (ABA) to agree with him. Dominion Voting Systems will also occupy both Giuliani and Powell’s attention with $1.3 billion dollar lawsuits, which, according to a legal analyst, looks like a strong case.

We have a separate post to deal with all seditious legislators, lawyers or no, here.

Right now, we’re just looking at the LAWYERS who also HAPPEN TO BE LEGISLATORS who are destroying democracy for political gain. Trump didn’t do this on his own, but four years under a lawless president with no discernable consequences for his offenses, may have encouraged these dual-action figures to let their hair down a bit. They may believe that, as elected officials, they can enjoy the same immunity for lying, or sedition, as their non-lawyer colleagues. But they’d be wrong. Not if they want to remain as lawyers. So, let’s give them the freedom enjoyed by their non-licensed friends, by having them disbarred for violating a foundational rule governing those licensed as lawyers.

Instructions:

Copy/paste this letter or write a snappier one of your own and send it to the American Bar Association at gpsld@americanbar.org or snail mail to American Bar Association, Government & Public Sector Lawyers Division, 1050 Connecticut Avenue, NW, Suite 400, Washington, DC 20036.

Action #2: Fill out some petitions!

Sign this petition to the Florida Bar in support of the disbarment of Matt Gaetz here.
- We’ve been watching this guy for awhile. Apparently we weren’t alone!
Sign Rep. Pascrell’s petition to disbar Giuliani and his gang here.

Action #3: Track ’em down, state by state. Ask governing agencies to disbar their seditionist lawyers.

OK, this action is EASIER THAN IT LOOKS! You can go total “COPY & PASTE” for your chosen lawyer/legislators, which will actually just take a few minutes, or you can personalize your letters!

Step #1 – Pick someone.

Click here and choose a lawyer/legislator who interests you. They are listed alphabetically by STATE. You have a choice of federal representatives, senators and state attorneys generals. who went on the record with their violation, either by signing an amicus brief, filing a lawsuit or obstructing others in their constitutional duties. Pick one, or collect the whole set!

Wow! Rep. Mo Brooks has been BUSY!!! He has TWO codes – (TL) and (HT)!

The codes:

TL – Texas Lawsuit/Congress: Texas v. Pennsylvania – 126 reps.
AG – Texas Lawsuit/State A.G’s: 17 state attorneys generals
GO – Rep. Louis Gohmert: Gohmert v. Pence.
JH – Senator Josh Hawley – Objection to PA electoral votes
HT – House Team: 139 House representatives, led by Rep. Mo Broooks, voted to sustain objections to electoral results.
ST – Senate Team: 8 senators, led by Sen. Ted Cruz, voted to sustain objections to electoral results.

Step #2 – Build-a-grievance-letter tool kit.

Our letter model below is just a suggestion. You are welcome to copy & paste whatever you want from it. Inserting your own voice is always helpful and simpler, shorter letters from the heart are useful too.
One lawyer/legislator per letter, even for ones from the same state.
You might wonder why we’ve used footnote scripts like this¹ when we normally just embed links like this. Some states will let you submit directly online and add links in the text. Others will require you to print out your document and submit it, so we’ve provided the informational “footnotes” to add when necessary.
Submission requirements are linked to the lawyer/legislator’s name here.
Resources you might want:
- The American Bar Association (ABA) Model Rules of Professional Conduct Rule 8.4 – here.
- Professional Ethics Rules of State Boards – list of links here.
- Comparison between state and ABA model rules here.
Here is an illustration for us visual learners:

Part A – Introduction: Copy/paste this and fill in the blanks or edit/write your own.

My name is [ ________________]. I am a resident of the State of [________], and am filing this complaint against [Rep/Sen./A.G. ___________] [{IF OUT OF STATE – ADD THIS}: Though I’m not a resident of your state, this lawyer/legislator committed an act of sedition, an act which affects every American citizen equally, which is my standing for the following request.] [He/She] engaged in conduct that blatantly violated national ethics standards for ethical behavior¹ as well as similar requirements for lawyers licensed in your state, contributing to a riot ending for five deaths. Therefore I am asking you to sanction [Rep/Sen./A.G. ___________] for this misconduct with disbarment.

Our founding fathers intentionally created a system of government where the law was supreme – where all are equal under the law and the law is the ultimate authority. They established our nation in this way to avoid the pitfalls of every other system of government in the history of humanity – systems which pledged their allegiance to a singular monarch, or a singular faith or system of belief. The founding fathers of our nation have been a light of hope to people throughout the world for the past 250 years for their vision of a diverse nation which could resolve its differences and govern and provide for its people on the basis of the respectful exchange of ideas. A nation governed by a system of laws, rules, and regulations which would ensure an equal playing field for all members of the country. And thus, our legislators must serve as a guiding light for us all, setting a standard for reasoned discourse. How much more so, should those legislators who are license attorneys.

Though not an attorney myself, I know that lawyers are licensed professionals who must not only swear an oath to support their own state laws, but federal laws and the Constitution as well. In addition, they are subject to ethics requirements from their state bar.² Therefore, when lawyers become legislators, I know that their requirements for ethical behavior should be higher than that those set for non-lawyer politicians. The court in In re Woodward³ held: “[a] layman may, perhaps, pursue his theories of free speech of political activities until he runs afoul of the penalties of libel or slander, or into some infraction of our statutory law. A member of the bar can, and will, be stopped at the point where he infringes our Canon of Ethics; and if he wishes to remain a member of the bar he will conduct himself therewith.”

On Wednesday, Jan. 6th, 2021, Americans watched in horror as armed anti-democratic rioters, incited by claims of a “stolen” election by our own president, took over the Capitol Building to stop the constitutionally mandated counting of electoral votes and to force the reversal of the results of the November election. But Mr. Trump wasn’t solely responsible for this act of insurrection. His disinformation campaign was backstopped by both Congressional⁴ and state officials⁵, with the most effective efforts promoting the “allegations” of fraud over the reality of a well-run election⁶ being perpetrated by those who also happened to be lawyers. Despite 60 court cases and 90 federal and state judges⁷ confirming that there is no evidence of election fraud, these professionals misused the public trust given to them as both lawyers and public servants for political gain, violating every oath and code they’d ever sworn to. The grim results of this betrayal plays 24/7 on our media feeds.

Part B – Find the code paragraph(s) that matches your person below and stick it/them in your letter.

{TL} Texas v. PA – GOP Representatives

[Rep/ ___________] participated in Texas v. Pennsylvania¹, the bizarre lawsuit filed by Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton² claiming that his state had been harmed by the actions of the election procedures of Georgia, Michigan, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin. Rightly thrown out by SCOTUS with a single page order³ for lack of standing, this ridiculous case was labeled “a mockery of federalism⁴ and separation of powers⁵,” by both GOP lawyers and former senior government officials alike. Pennsylvania’s Attorney General Josh Shapiro called it “a “seditious abuse of the judicial process⁶,” which “would would do nothing less than deny the fundamental right to vote to millions of Pennsylvania’s citizens.” Every one of the 126 legislators who signed onto the amicus brief⁷ did so to curry favor⁸ with our president and to posture to his followers for political gain in the next election. However, years of legal education and the canon of ethics against participating in actions⁹ for which there is no basis or fact for doing so, should have prevented lawyers/legislators like [Rep/ ___________] from joining in.

Notes:

____________________________________________

***{AG}* *Texas v. PA –*** *Attorne**ys General*

[Attorney General ___________], along with 16 other attorneys general, signed a joint brief¹ to Texas v. Pennsylvania². This bizarre lawsuit claimed that Texas had been harmed by the actions of the election procedures of Georgia, Michigan, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin. Rightly thrown out by SCOTUS with a single page order³ for lack of standing, this ridiculous case⁴ was labeled “a mockery of federalism⁵ and separation of powers,” by both GOP lawyers and former senior government officials alike. Pennsylvania’s Attorney General Josh Shapiro called it “a “seditious abuse of the judicial process,”⁶ which “would would do nothing less than deny the fundamental right to vote to millions of Pennsylvania’s citizens.” Every one of the 17 attorneys general who signed onto the joint brief⁷ did so to curry favor⁸ with our president and to posture to his followers for their political gain in the next election. Years of legal education and the canon of ethics against participating in actions⁹ for which there is no basis or fact for doing so, should have prevented lawyers/legislators like [Attorney General___________] from joining in.

Notes:

____________________________________________

{GO} – Rep. Louis Gohmert v. Pence…

Rep. Louis Gohmert’s actions more than justify disbarment. In Gohmert v. Pence¹, lawyer/legislator Rep. Louie Gohmert² (R-TX) and a group of Arizona GOP fake-electors sued Vice President Mike Pence in order to grant him “exclusive authority and sole discretion under the Twelfth Amendment to determine which slates of electors for a State, or neither, may be counted.” Seriously. V.P. Pence himself asked the judge to dismiss³ this ridiculous waste of time and taxpayer money. Trump-appointed Judge Jeremy Kernodle threw it out for lack of standing, convoluted hypotheticals and that they weren’t even suing the right person. Rep. Gohmert’s plea to SCOTUS was just denied on Thursday⁴. In his quest for political gold, Gohmert violated not only common sense, but his professional ethics rule in which “A lawyer shall not bring or defend a proceeding, or assert or controvert an issue therein, unless there is a basis in law and fact for doing so that is not frivolous, which includes a good faith argument for an extension, modification or reversal of existing law.⁵” Frivolous. Embarassing. Wasteful. Dishonest.

Notes:

____________________________________________

{JH} Josh Hawley – “I will do/say anything to be president!”

(Note: Submit Josh Hawley comments to both the Missouri and the District of Columbia Bars.)

Sen. Josh Hawley’s actions more than justify disbarment. Although Josh Hawley’s (R-MO) clerked for a SCOTUS justice, he seems to have missed Article II and the 12^th Amendment¹ Day in law school, as his grandstanding² involved loudly objecting to the counting of the electoral votes from Pennsylvania³. Votes that have already been certified. With results that have already withstood courtroom attacks. Over the objections of both PA’s actual senator Pat Toomey⁴, and the state’s A.G. Josh Shapiro⁵ who stated that “Sen. @HawleyMO is lying. PA’s vote by mail law got more Rep votes than Dem votes. No serious evidence of fraud exists. Fed & state judges upheld the law. This isn’t about partisanship or polarization. It’s about sucking up to Trump & throwing out the people’s will. Sedition.” Not only is Sen. Josh Hawley guilty of the ethical charges of deception over election results⁶ for political gain, he’s also broken his sworn oath to our Constitution by objecting to counting certified electoral college votes. That he was a former clerk to a SCOTUS justice,⁷ just makes this more venal. I am not alone in this analysis. Over 3,400 lawyers and law students have signed a petition⁸ to disbar him.

Notes:

____________________________________________

{HT} “House Team” – 139 GOP Reps. total, (26) lawyer legislators

{FOR REP. MO BROOKS ONLY} Rep. Mo Brooks’s actions more than justify disbarment. (NYTimes list¹) Rep. Brooks² (R-AL), a lawyer/legislator, led the House effort³ to overturn our election⁴, stating that he wanted to reject the electoral votes certified by states such as Georgia and Pennsylvania that he claims had “flawed election systems,” an issue for Congress only if there were competing slates of electors. Twenty-five lawyers/legislators joined him in committing professional and legal violations⁵ in pursuit of political gain. In an act of sedition,⁵ he misrepresented the facts of the election results⁶ to his constituents, a violation of professional ethics, and objected to counting certified electoral college votes, breaking his oath to uphold the Constitution by violating both Article II and the 12^th Amendment.⁷

{FOR ALL OTHER “HT” REPS.} [Rep. _________]‘s actions more than justify disbarment. (NYTimes list¹) In following fellow lawyer legislator Rep. Mo Brooks² (R-AL) House effort³ to overturn our election⁴, by to reject the certified electoral votes from states such as Georgia and Pennsylvania that Rep. Brooks claimed had “flawed election systems,” [Rep. _________] became one of 26 lawer/legislators who ahead committed professional and legal violations⁵ in pursuit of political gain. In an act of sedition,⁵ [he/she] misrepresented the facts of the election results⁶ to [his/her] constituents, a violation of professional ethics, and objected to counting certified electoral college votes, breaking [his/her] oath to uphold the Constitution by violating both Article II and the 12^th Amendment.⁷

Notes:

____________________________________________

{ST} “Senate Team” – (8) total, (4) lawyer/legislators

(Note: Submit Sen. Cruz’s comments to both the Texas and the District of Columbia Bars.)

{FOR SEN. TED CRUZ ONLY} – Sen. Ted Cruz’s actions more than justify disbarment. (NYTimes list¹) Senator Ted Cruz authored a cynical letter calling for the rejection² of certain electoral college votes for “unprecedented allegations³ of voter fraud, violations and lax enforcement of election law, and other voting irregularities.” Then, in what must be characterized as an act of sedition⁴, he then went ahead and committed professional and legal violations⁴ in pursuit of political gain – first by misrepresenting the facts of the election results⁵ to his constituents for political gain, a violation of professional ethics, and then by objecting to counting certified electoral college votes, breaking his oath to uphold the Constitution by violating both Article II and the 12^th Amendment.⁶ He also demanded a commission appointed to audit the results, another non-Constitutional demand under Article II and the 12th Amendment. Senator Cruz, a former law clerk for Chief Justice William Rehnquist, has no excuse for these violations except naked, toxic ambition,⁷ and he should be disbarred. I am not alone in this analysis. Over 3,400 lawyers and law students have signed a petition to disbar him as well.

{FOR SENs. RICK SCOTT, JOHN KENNEDY & CYNTHIA LUMMIS } – (NYTimes list¹) [Sen. _________]‘s actions more than justify disbarment. In following the lead of Senator Ted Cruz, who authored a cynical letter calling for the rejection² of certain electoral college votes for “unprecedented allegations³ of voter fraud, violations and lax enforcement of election law, and other voting irregularities,” more than justify disbarment, [he/she] committed professional and legal violations⁴ in pursuit of political gain. In what can only be characterized as an act of sedition⁴, [he/she] misrepresented the facts of the election results⁵ to [his/her] constituents for political gain, a violation of professional ethics, and objected to counting certified electoral college votes, breaking [his/her] oath to uphold the Constitution by violating both Article II and the 12^th Amendment⁶. [He/She] also demanded a commission appointed to audit the results, another non-Constitutional demand under Article II and the 12th Amendment.

Notes:

Part C – Final paragraph – Copy/paste this and fill in the blanks or edit/write your own.

I charge [Rep/Sen./A.G. ___________] with the following violations and respectfully request that your licensing agency disbar [him/her]:

{FOR ALL CODES} Section 3 of the Fourteenth Amendment – “No Person shall be a Senator or Representative in Congress, or elector of President and Vice-President, or hold any office, civil or military, under the United States, or under any State, who, having previously taken an oath, as a member of Congress, or as an officer of the United States, or as a member of any State legislature, or as an executive or judicial officer of any State, to support the Constitution of the United States, shall have engaged in insurrection or rebellion against the same, or given aid or comfort to the enemies thereof.“
{FOR ALL CODES} Rule of Professional Conduct 3.1, which requires that “A lawyer shall not bring or defend a proceeding, or assert or controvert an issue therein, unless there is a basis in law and fact for doing so that is not frivolous, which includes a good faith argument for an extension, modification or reversal of existing law.“
{FOR ALL CODES} Rule 8.4(c) the “Dishonesty Rule,” instituted after the Watergate cover-up, which prohibits lawyers from engaging “in conduct involving dishonesty, fraud, deceit or misrepresentation.”
{FOR CODES JH, HT, ST ONLY} Article II and the 12^th Amendment. Rep. Liz Cheney (R-WY) warned her GOP brethren that “Objecting to these electoral slates would unavoidably assert that Congress has the authority to overturn elections and overrule state and federal courts. That would set an exceptionally dangerous precedent, threatening to steal states’ explicit constitutional responsibility for choosing the President and bestowing it instead on Congress. This is directly at odds with the Constitution’s clear text and our core beliefs as Republicans. She clarified further that the Article II, the 12^th Amendment or any other Constitutional text did not provide for:
- Any debate, objection or discretionary judgments by Congress in performing the ministerial task of counting the votes.
- Any implication that Congress is the court of last resort, with the authority to second-guess and invalidate state and federal court judicial rulings in election challenges. The Constitutional text reads: “The person having the greatest Number of [Electoral College] votes for President, shall be the President.”
- The right to require investigation committees. “The person having the greatest Number of [Electoral College] votes for President, shall be the President, unless Congress objects or Congress wants to investigate...”

{FOR AGENCIES WITHOUT ONLINE-FILLABLE FORMS} I also request that you modernize your complaint mechanism to allow them to be completed online as other states have done. Unless hand-written, mailed documentation is a hallmark of all your government interactions, this time-consuming requirement appears to be an deliberate impediment for public comment.

{FOR ALL AGENCIES} I also request that reprimands for lawyer/legislators for issues that took place while serving as a legislator in any level of government be made visible on your reporting website, even if your current practice is to only publish full violations.

And just as there are no ethics issues too small for notice for those who wish to rule us, there are also no individuals too important to be disbarred. During President Clinton’s impeachment trials, his Arkansas law license was suspended for five years, and he chose to resign from U.S. Supreme Court’s practice instead of facing disbarment.

Eliot T. Tracz, in “Lies, Liars, and Lawyers as legislators” An Argument towards Holding Attorneys Accountable for Violating the Model Rule of Professional Conduct 8.4(c) Whilst Acting in a Legislative Role” stated “Many of the Founding Fathers were lawyers, and since the early days of the United States, lawyers have played a pivotal role as legislators in our government. As lawyers elected to public office, lawyer-legislators hold the trust of the public and are expected to fulfill the ideal that has been termed the lawyer-statesman.”

George Washington, though not a lawyer himself, spoke eloquently in 1796 about legislative responsibility, in words that echo through the events that happened at our Capitol 225 years later:

“The very idea of the power and the right of the people to establish government presupposes the duty of every individual to obey the established government.
All obstructions to the execution of the laws, all combinations and associations, under whatever plausible character, with the real design to direct, control, counteract, or awe the regular deliberation and action of the constituted authorities, are destructive of this fundamental principle, and of fatal tendency. They serve to organize faction, to give it an artificial and extraordinary force; to put, in the place of the delegated will of the nation the will of a party, often a small but artful and enterprising minority of the community; and, according to the alternate triumphs of different parties, to make the public administration the mirror of the ill-concerted and incongruous projects of faction, rather than the organ of consistent and wholesome plans digested by common counsels and modified by mutual interests.
The common and continual mischiefs of the spirit of party are sufficient to make it the interest and duty of a wise people to discourage and restrain it.
It serves always to distract the public councils and enfeeble the public administration. It agitates the community with ill-founded jealousies and false alarms, kindles the animosity of one part against another, foments occasionally riot and insurrection. It opens the door to foreign influence and corruption, which finds a facilitated access to the government itself through the channels of party passions.
In offering to you, my countrymen, these counsels of an old and affectionate friend, I dare not hope they will make the strong and lasting impression I could wish; that they will control the usual current of the passions, or prevent our nation from running the course which has hitherto marked the destiny of nations. But, if I may even flatter myself that they may be productive of some partial benefit, some occasional good; that they may now and then recur to moderate the fury of party spirit, to warn against the mischiefs of foreign intrigue, to guard against the impostures of pretended patriotism; this hope will be a full recompense for the solicitude for your welfare, by which they have been dictated.
I anticipate with pleasing expectation that retreat in which I promise myself to realize, without alloy, the sweet enjoyment of partaking, in the midst of my fellow-citizens, the benign influence of good laws under a free government, the ever-favorite object of my heart, and the happy reward, as I trust, of our mutual cares, labors, and dangers.”

We, the people, are asking you to do your part to ensure that only the most ethical and trustworthy lawyer/legislators are allowed seats in our halls of power.

Thank you for your consideration.

_____________________________________________________

Do you have more time?

ACTIONS!
- 3 QUICK ACTIONS: AMERICAN RELIEF PLAN, DE-FANG DEJOY, PUBLIC CHARGE Here.
- SENATORS – THE GOP IS GASLIGHTING US. CONVICT TRUMP NOW! Here.
- GET READY TO FLUSH THE FILIBUSTER – Here.
- IN THE BEGINNING, THERE WAS H.R. 1 – Here.
- THERE IS NO MORE TIME TO WAIT! D.C. STATEHOOD NOW! here.
- TICK, TOCK, WE’RE WAITING FOR RESIGNATIONS Here.
- REMOVE THE WHOLE ECO-SYSTEM OF SEDITION/PASS THE COUP ACT – (3) actions here.
- SIGN the NAACP’s “IMPEACH TRUMP” PETITION here.
- DISBAR SEDITIOUS LAWYER/LEGISLATORS: here.