In a significant ruling, Rudy Giuliani, former New York mayor and personal lawyer to ex-President Donald Trump, has had his New York law license suspended. This decision came from a state appeals court which determined that Giuliani had made false statements about the 2020 presidential election being stolen.
The court stated that Giuliani “baselessly attacked and undermined the integrity of this country’s electoral process” and contributed to the tumult that followed the 2020 election, showing no signs of remorse.
“By doing so, respondent not only deliberately violated some of the most fundamental tenets of the legal profession, but he also actively contributed to the national strife that has followed the 2020 Presidential election, for which he is entirely unrepentant,” the court’s ruling noted.
As a prominent figure in propagating the false claims of widespread voter fraud that supposedly led to Trump’s defeat, Giuliani has now been barred from practicing law “in any form”. This means he cannot appear as an attorney or counselor-at-law in front of any public authority.
Adding to his legal troubles, Giuliani was previously ordered to pay $148 million in damages for defaming two Georgia election workers. His effort to overturn this judgment was unsuccessful as recently as April, as reported by ABC News.
Ted Goodman, a spokesperson for Giuliani, said in a statement that, “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.”
“We will be appealing this objectively flawed decision in hopes that the appellate process will restore integrity into our system of justice,” Goodman said.
This development marks a dramatic turn for Giuliani, who once stood as a respected figure in legal and political circles, most notably during his tenure as mayor of New York City.