Rudy Giuliani, the former mayor of New York City who represented former president Donald Trump in cases related to the 2020 election, has been formally disbarred in New York.
On Tuesday, the New York supreme court’s appellate division granted a motion to disbar Giuliani from his law practice in the state, effective immediately. The Trump ally is accused of attempting to subvert the 2020 election results, according to the court order.
Giuliani “flagrantly misused his prominent position as the personal attorney for former President Trump and his campaign, through which respondent repeatedly and intentionally made false statements, some of which were perjurious, to the federal court, state lawmakers, the public, the [Attorney Grievance Committee], and this Court concerning the 2020 Presidential election, in which he baselessly attacked and undermined the integrity of this country’s electoral process,” the document reads.
Giuliani claimed ballots were smuggled across state lines, thousands of ballots were cast in the names of dead people or underaged individuals, and thousands of felons or non-U.S. citizens voted illegally during the election four years ago. The court cited these claims as part of its reasoning for his disbarment. The decision focused on such claims he made about the election in Arizona, Georgia, and Pennsylvania.
Giuliani was suspended from practicing law in New York in June 2021 while the court weighed further disciplinary actions against the attorney. The court previously suspended Giuliani because his allegations that the 2020 election was stolen from Trump threatened the public interest, democracy, and the legal profession.
“In so doing, 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 latest order states.
Once dubbed “America’s Mayor” in the aftermath of the 9/11 terrorist attack, the 80-year-old was admitted to New York’s bar in 1969.
The Republican figure faces disciplinary proceedings in Washington, D.C., where a bar disciplinary committee recommended his disbarment last year. Giuliani also faces two criminal indictments in Arizona and Georgia for allegedly interfering in the 2020 election, on top of a $148 million defamation judgment for lying about two former Georgia poll workers. Following the December judgment, he filed for bankruptcy.