WASHINGTON (CN) — The D.C. Court of Appeals heard arguments as part of a disciplinary hearing on Thursday over whether Rudy Giuliani should be disbarred for his role in bringing frivolous lawsuits to overturn Donald Trump’s 2020 electoral defeat.
The hearing before the D.C. Court of Appeals Board on Professional Responsibility could lead to Giuliani, who was not present, being barred from practicing law in Washington, marking another rebuke against the former mayor of New York City and Trump’s lead campaign lawyer.
In July, a D.C. Bar Association panel recommended Giuliani be disbarred for his “frivolous” and “destructive” efforts to allow Trump to maintain his grip on power, leading Giuliani to appeal and bring the matter before the appeals board Thursday.
A panel of nine D.C. lawyers heard arguments from Giuliani’s attorneys John Leventhal and Barry Kamins, both former New York judges, and Disciplinary counsel Hamilton Fox, regarding a lawsuit Giuliani brought in the Middle District of Pennsylvania.
According to a specification of the charges brought against Giuliani, the suit claimed widespread voter fraud and asked a federal judge to block the certification of the state’s election results, block the certification of mail-in ballots and recount the results in seven counties.
Leventhal argued that Giuliani did not have the time to independently verify the claims made in the suit, as he had taken the case “at the eleventh hour” after two Trump lawyers, Hope Hicks and Linda Kerns, withdrew from the case and left him to shoulder their mistakes and claims.
“He had no intent to go into court and undermine democracy,” Leventhal said.
Robert Walker, member of the board and a former chief counsel on the Senate and House ethics committees, had trouble swallowing the notion that Giuliani had accepted the case, flaws and all, and still decided to move forward.
He pressed Leventhal on the fact that Giuliani, as a licensed attorney, had an obligation to check the facts of the case and could have determined there was no evidence the back up its claims. He said that Giuliani could have made an “independent, ethical decision” before proceeding with the case.
Bernadette Sargent, the chair of the board, also took issue with the idea that Giuliani was either not aware of or not responsible for bringing forward clearly false claims of election fraud and noted that Giuliani was a “vociferous” ally of Trump’s and that this case was part of a wider effort to put the election in the hands of the conservative-dominated Supreme Court.
“This was not just a case but a movement case,” she said, referring to the practice of bringing cases unlikely to succeed in local courts before a friendlier higher court.
Fox also rejected the claim that Giuliani had joined the case at the last minute and pushed the court to send a clear message.
“A sanction less than disbarment for this kind of misconduct would be virtually meaningless,” Fox said. “[Giuliani’s] utterly unrepentant, we’ve got another election coming up, we need to deter lawyers from engaging in this kind of conduct.”
The hearing is only the most recent example of the fall from grace for Giuliani, formerly known as “America’s Mayor” following the Sept. 11 attacks on the World Trade Center, as he faces increasing rebukes from the legal community.
In 2021, a state court in New York suspended his right to practice law in the state over his efforts to keep Trump in the White House following the 2020 presidential election.
In August, Giuliani was hit with a “loss by default” for refusing to turn over documents in a defamation case brought by two Georgia poll workers who sued him for falsely accusing them of mishandling ballots during the 2020 election.
U.S. District Judge Beryl Howell ordered Giuliani turn over financial and business records the plaintiffs had requested and pay over $100,000 to reimburse their attorney’s fees.
Giuliani has also faces racketeering charges in Fulton County, Georgia — the same charges he brought against members of New York City’s “Five Families” as a U.S. Attorney in the 1980s — over his efforts to interfere in the Peach State’s election.
Other members of Trump’s legal team and Giuliani’s co-defendants Kenneth Chesebro, Jenna Ellis and Sidney Powell have taken plea deals in recent weeks and are likely to testify against Giuliani and Trump in the case.
They are also likely witnesses in Trump’s election subversion case in Washington, where Giuliani is one of six unnamed co-conspirators.
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