New York State Bar Association May Drop Giuliani From Membership

The New York State Bar Association is deciding whether to remove Rudy Giuliani from its membership rolls.

NYSBA officials said they had received hundreds of complaints in recent months about Giuliani "and his baseless efforts on behalf of President Trump to cast doubt on the veracity of the 2020 presidential election and, after the votes were cast, to overturn its legitimate results."

Rep. Mondaire Jones, the newly-elected Congressman from the lower Hudson Valley, wants the state's legal leaders to go even farther. He is one of those calling for Giuliani to be disbarred.

Membership in the bar association is not the same as being admitted to the bar, which allows one to practice law in New York. The attorney grievance committee of the appellate division, which is part of the state court system, handles questions of disbarment.

Jones, a member of the House Judiciary Committee, sent a letter to the attorney grievance committee requesting an investigation into Giuliani and his involvement in the violent insurrection at the Capitol in which five people died, including a U.S. Capitol Police officer. Another Capitol Police officer committed suicide after it.

"Rudy Giuliani’s incitement of a riot at the United States Capitol should bring an end to his destructive legal career," Jones said in a statement. "The legal profession cannot tolerate sedition in its ranks if it hopes to maintain the faith of the American people. We must make an example of him."

Meanwhile, bar association officials condemned the insurrection in a statement on their website. And, they said in the statement, while the blame lies mostly with the president, "the president did not act alone. Hours before the angry mob stormed the Capitol walls, Trump’s personal attorney, Rudolph Giuliani, addressed a crowd of thousands at the White House, reiterating baseless claims of widespread election fraud in the presidential election and the Georgia U.S. Senate runoffs. 'If we’re wrong, we will be made fools of, but if we’re right a lot of them will go to jail,' Mr. Giuliani said. 'Let’s have trial by combat.'"

Giuliani's efforts to overturn the election results "included the commencement and prosecution of court actions in multiple states without any evidentiary basis whatsoever. In each and every instance, these actions were appropriately dismissed by the courts in which they were brought," they said.

The association's bylaws state that "no person who advocates the overthrow of the government of the United States, or of any state, territory or possession thereof, or of any political subdivision therein, by force or other illegal means, shall be a member of the Association," they said. Therefore President Scott M. Karson has launched an inquiry to determine whether Giuliani should be removed from the membership rolls.

"Mr. Giuliani will be provided due process and have an opportunity – should he so choose – to explain and defend his words and actions," they said in their statement.

Editor's Note: Rep. Jones sent his letter to the attorney grievance committee of the New York State court system. The recipient had been identified incorrectly.