Rudy Giuliani has been disbarred in New York after he was found to have made repeated false statements about the 2020 election.
The decision, by a New York Appellate Court on Tuesday, was a stunning conclusion for a man who was once one of the most powerful and revered prosecutors in the country.
As US Attorney for the Southern District of New York, Giuliani became known as a tough prosecutor who went after organized crime. It was a reputation he leveraged to become New York mayor, leading the city through the devastation of the 9/11 terror attack in 2001.
Giuliani “is disbarred from the practice of law, effective immediately, and until the further order of this Court, and his name stricken from the roll of attorneys and counselors-at-law in the State of New York”, the 31-page ruling states.
The court justified its decision by saying that Giuliani had made “demonstrably false and misleading statements to courts, lawmakers, and the public at large” when he was lawyer for Donald Trump, and part of the failed attempt to overturn the 2020 election results.
On Tuesday, a Giuliani spokesperson told The Independent: “Members of the legal community who respect the rule of law in this country should immediately come forward and speak out against this politically and ideologically corrupted decision by the New York Bar Association.
“We will be appealing this objectively flawed decision in hopes that the appellate process will restore integrity into our system of justice.”
Giuliani’s New York law license was suspended in June 2021 after the division ruled that Giualini’s false claims about the 2020 election constituted a threat to the public interest, democracy, and the legal profession.
The 80-year-old has faced increasing legal and financial jeopardy over the last few years. He was indicted in Arizona in May, along with 17 other defendants, for supposedly being a part of a scheme to overturn Trump’s 2020 loss in the state.
Last December, he filed for bankruptcy after a defamation judgment ordered him to pay damages of $148m after he made false claims about election workers.
Retired Judge Barry Kamins, who represented Giuliani during the disbarrment proceedings, told the New York Law Journal that Giuliani “is obviously disappointed in the decision and we are weighing our appellate options.”
A Washington DC disciplinary committee has recommended that Giuliani be disbarred there as well.
The former mayor is also the subject of criminal charges in Georgia over his alleged role in a plot to overturn the 2020 election results in the state.
