Disbar Rudy Giuliani

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Dear MoveOn Member,

I'm Etelle Higonnet, a MoveOn member, and I started a petition to The New York Bar Association, which says:

Petition to Disbar Rudy Giuliani

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We, the undersigned citizens of the United States and students of the legal profession, call on the New York Bar Association to immediately begin disbarment proceedings against Rudy Giuliani.

In leading the efforts to undermine the peaceful transition of power after a free and fair election, Rudy Giuliani attacked the foundations of our democracy. Nearly 160 million Americans exercised their right to vote in the November 2020 election. Dozens of courts rejected unfounded claims of widespread voter fraud, and the Electoral College formally ratified President-elect Biden's victory on December 14, 2020. Despite these clear expressions of the will of the people—and with full knowledge of the implications of their actions—Rudy Giuliani publicly campaigned against Congress's certification of the Electoral College's votes set for January 6, 2021 - and incited a crowd to "trial by combat" which subsequently stormed the Capitol.

In doing so, Rudy Giuliani directly incited the January 6th insurrection, repeating dangerous and unsubstantiated statements regarding the election and abetting the lawless behavior of President Trump. A violent mob attacked the U.S. Capitol. Five people have died. The nation and the world watched as rioters took over the very halls and chambers that embody our democracy. Yet after the violence and terror of the day's events, Rudy Giuliani still chose to persist in baseless objections to the will of the people.

These actions prove Rudy Giuliani fundamentally unfit for membership in the legal profession. He has flagrantly violated some of the most elementary ethics rules governing the legal profession. In inciting and encouraging a violent insurrection against the U.S. government, he has potentially committed "a criminal act that reflects adversely on the lawyer's honesty, trustworthiness, or fitness as a lawyer in other respects." And by fanning the fury of aggrieved constituents through false claims of voter fraud, he has engaged in "conduct involving dishonesty, fraud, deceit, or misrepresentation."

Most importantly, lawyers who betray the very democratic institutions they are charged with protecting and improving as "public citizens" are definitionally unfit for the legal profession. Rudy Giuliani has shown that he has no respect for the courts by deliberately ignoring that judges across the country and the ideological spectrum have rejected President Trump's efforts to overturn the election. He has shown that he has no respect for the Constitution by violating its words when he arguably "engaged in insurrection or rebellion against" the United States. Worst of all, he has shown that he has no respect for the American public and our democracy by working tirelessly to disenfranchise tens of millions of voters.

Such egregious breaches of integrity matter. The very existence of our profession is symbiotic with the preservation and furtherance of the American republic. If Rudy Giuliani's actions do not result in any repercussions for his professional status as lawyer, that silence will send an unmistakable message to the rest of the legal community, to aspiring lawyers, and to the American public: that lawyers cannot be trusted with the task of protecting, let alone improving, our sacred democracy, and that lawyers can denigrate democratic institutions with impunity.

The New York Bar must begin disbarment proceedings against Rudy Giuliani and send the message that the legal profession stands firmly in defense of our democratic institutions. They must do so whether or not Rudy Giuliani plans to assume the roles of advocate and counselor ever again, as a private or public lawyer. It is the least our profession can do to protect and defend our most cherished ideals and institutions.