SCHADENFREUDE

Senator Joseph McCarthy, Roy Cohn, Rudy Giuliani. What did they have in common? For openers, they were all lawyers.  And they were all despicable. And in the end, they all earned the dishonorable discharge they were awarded by the public, or by officialdom, or both.

This piece is about Rudy, so let’s get right to it:

At one of his recent press conferences, (I think it was the famous flop-sweat-hair-dye-mascara-running-down-the-cheeks conference, but I am not certain) Giuliani asserted that he had solid proof of election fraud, proof that was so powerful it could overturn the Biden victory. It is not clear if the fraud he was talking about was the same fraud that his then co-counsel Sidney Powell, standing by his side, described. You know, the conspiracy involving Chavez agents, Chinese communists, the CIA, Soros, and Republican and Democratic bribe-taking politicians,— all of whom worked together to build and manipulate a computer algorithm that siphoned off millions of Trump votes and converted them to Biden votes. The truth is, Ms. Powell explained, Trump won by a landslide — millions of votes.

 But whatever the nature of the fraud to which Giuliani referred, he said he had The Proof. When asked by a reporter to disclose that proof, Giuliani said that he had the affidavits and reports in his pocket, but he refused to produce them because that would put his witnesses at risk of bodily harm—presumably at the hands of the foregoing conspirators. That was, of course, a page right out of Joe McCarthy‘s standard script: “I have the list of communists right here in my jacket pocket!” Like Giuliani’s “proof,” it was fiction.

The Senator, of course, did his dirty work with the aid of his right-hand man Roy Cohn, later mentor to Donald J Trump, whose hatchet man personal lawyer these days is none other than our subject, Clown Rudy. 

Giuliani fits right in with the succession of Trump’s personal lawyers: his predecessor, Michael Cohen went to jail, and his predecessor, Roy Cohn, was disbarred. Now it’s Rudy’s turn.

Rudy’s  performance as a lawyer is governed by New York State Rules of Professional Conduct. They stipulate that a lawyer who makes a presentation to a court must reasonably believe his claim is not frivolous. That belief must be objectively reasonable. That means It is one that a “reasonably prudent and competent lawyer“ would hold. Moreover a lawyer must provide competent representation. He must have the “knowledge, skill, thoroughness, and preparation necessary for the representation he has undertaken.”

The unsuccessful Giuliani appearance before a federal court in Pennsylvania last week shattered every one of those rules. He was so unprepared, he did not know that one of his principal arguments related to a claim that had been withdrawn from the case by his predecessor counsel. The court found that Giuliani’s arguments were “strained,“ “without  merit,“ and consisted of “speculative accusations. He compared the Republican claim to a “Frankenstein monster” and dismissed it. When Guiliani sought permission to amend his claim, the judge denied it, ruling: 

“Among the grounds that could justify a denial of leave to amend are undue delay, bad faith, dilatory motive, prejudice, and futility,”  

The Giuliani argument I liked best was his claim that this election involves a “widespread national voter fraud.“  Yet when asked by the court to produce evidence of that voter fraud, Giuliani responded “This is not a fraud case!”

There’s more, but you get the point. At bottom, Giuliani made false statements to the court, he was unprepared, he did not have and could not have an objective belief that his cause had any merit because no “reasonably prudent and competent lawyer“ could believe his case was non- frivolous given the absence of any evidence in support of his claim. The only purpose of the lawsuit was to delay Pennsylvania’s certification of its electors.

Several of my readers have asked me the hypothetical question of whether I  would have taken steps to disbar Giuliani when I was Chairman of the Lawyers Disciplinary Committee. My decision to prosecute the disbarment of Roy Cohn was an easy call. He was guilty of several serious charges involving perjury and schemes to steal money from clients. While I would be tempted to open a file on Giuliani, I am not sure it’s worth it, given the political circus that would ensue. On the other hand, Cohn was guilty of efforts to steal from clients, but Giuliani is guilty of trying to steal our democracy.

In the end, I probably would have avoided making any decision. I am way beyond objective, and probably would have recused myself. I am content reveling in my schadenfreude: the photograph of Rudi’s flop sweat hair dye running down his cheeks does it all for me. 

Happy Thanksgiving to all. 

A bonus: it’s the last Thanksgiving Trump will spend in the White House!

A bientot.

.............................................

There is no fixed schedule for these posts. If you would like to receive a notice of each new posting, please fill out the form at <"http://eepurl.com/gf7fS9">.

..............................................

More detail of the Roy Cohn disbarment proceeding is available in my memoir “The Client Decides” available at Amazon and on Kindle. 

.............................................