News Roundup
Weekly Briefs: Giuliani committed ethics violation, committee says; Justice Kavanaugh criticized for attending party
Lawyer Rudy Giuliani speaks during a news conference in June in New York. Photo by Mary Altaffer/The Associated Press.
Rudy Giuliani committed ethics violation in election suit, committee says
A hearing committee in Washington, D.C., made a preliminary finding Thursday that lawyer Rudy Giuliani committed at least one ethics violation in connection with his voter fraud claims in a Pennsylvania lawsuit. The committee did not elaborate on its finding. The D.C. Bar’s Office of Disciplinary Counsel is seeking disbarment for Giuliani, a lawyer for former President Donald Trump. The next steps are for the hearing committee to file a report and recommendation, a review by the D.C. Bar’s Board on Professional Responsibility and a decision by the District of Columbia Court of Appeals. (Law360, Law.com, the Legal Profession Blog)
Some law profs question Kavanaugh party attendance
Some law professors are criticizing U.S. Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh after Politico reported that he attended a Christmas party at the home of the chairman of the Conservative Political Action Coalition. Also attending the party was Stephen Miller, a former adviser to former President Donald Trump who is now the president of America First Legal, which has filed amicus briefs in pending cases. Charles Geyh, a professor at the Indiana University Maurer School of Law professor, told Bloomberg Law that Kavanaugh’s attendance is at a minimum a poor idea and potentially a violation of judicial ethics, although the ethics code for federal judges doesn’t apply to Supreme Court justices. Writing at the National Review, Carrie Campbell Severino, president of the Judicial Crisis Network, a conservative group, said she sees a liberal double standard that ignores ethics lapses by judges and “those on the left.” (Bloomberg Law, the Washington Post, the National Review)
Jones Day hires 7 SCOTUS clerks
Jones Day has hired seven associates who clerked for U.S. Supreme Court justices in the October 2021 term. All seven new hires clerked for conservative justices. The law firm has hired 78 Supreme Court clerks over a 10-year period. (Jones Day press release, Bloomberg Law via How Appealing, Law.com)
Breonna Taylor’s boyfriend settles suits over raid
Breonna Taylor’s boyfriend, Kenneth Walker, will receive $2 million as a result of a settlement agreement with the city of Louisville, Kentucky, in connection with the 2020 police raid that led to Taylor’s death. Officers did not announce themselves before knocking down the door of Taylor’s apartment, leading Walker to fire his gun at the people he thought were intruders, according state and federal lawsuits filed by Walker. Taylor was killed, and Walker was initially charged with attempted murder. Taylor’s family has reached a $12 million settlement with the city. (The New York Times, CNN, the Associated Press)
