Thousands of lawyers and law students petition to disbar US Senators Josh Hawley and Ted Cruz News
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Thousands of lawyers and law students petition to disbar US Senators Josh Hawley and Ted Cruz

Thousands of US law students and of members of the Missouri, Texas and DC bars have signed a petition for the disbarment of Senators Josh Hawley and Ted Cruz for their objections to Congressional certification of the Electoral College’s votes.

As of Wednesday, there were more than 11,000 signatures on the petition from lawyers and law students. Nearly 3,000 of these were members of the Missouri, Texas, and DC bars. Hawley is a member of the State Bar of Missouri and Cruz is a member of the State Bar of Texas. Both are members of the DC Bar as well.

The petition argues that Hawley and Cruz “attacked the foundations of our democracy” by “leading the efforts to undermine the peaceful transition of power after a free and fair election.” The petition points to the dozens of courts that stated the claims of vast voter fraud during the November 2020 election were unfounded. Furthermore, the Electoral College ratified the victory of President-Elect Joe Biden on December 14, but Hawley and Cruz announced that they would object to the formal certification on January 6. The petition links these actions to the attacks on the US Capitol:

Senators Hawley and Cruz directly incited the January 6th insurrection, repeating dangerous and unsubstantiated statements regarding the election and abetting the lawless behavior of President Trump. A violent mob attacked the U.S. Capitol. Five people have died. The nation and the world watched as rioters took over the very halls and chambers that embody our democracy. Yet after the violence and terror of the day’s events, Senators Hawley and Cruz still chose to stand in the chamber of the U.S. Senate and persist in their baseless objections to the will of the people. These actions prove Senators Hawley and Cruz fundamentally unfit for membership in the legal profession. Both have flagrantly violated some of the most elementary ethics rules governing the legal profession.

The petition alleges that Hawley and Cruz potentially committed criminal acts that serve as grounds of disbarment, as well as “conduct involving dishonesty, fraud, deceit, or misrepresentation.”

This is among other legal and political responses to the attacks on the Capitol and those who should potentially be held responsible. More than 150 law school deans released a statement condemning the attack, more than 750 legal scholars have signed a letter calling for President Donald Trump’s removal from office, and the House of Representatives has voted to impeach Trump, making him the only president to have ever been impeached twice.

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