Amidst national outrage over the incitement of rioters at the U.S. Capitol by leading Republicans, the editorial board of The Kansas City Star is throwing its support behind potential disbarment proceedings against Sen. Josh Hawley (R-Mo.), one of their own state’s Senators. Hawley helped lead an effort among Senate Republicans to object to the certification of some of President-elect Joe Biden’s electoral votes, thereby helping the lies underlying this position spread even farther. Despite self-important assertions of misconduct on the part of election officials from Hawley and others, no court anywhere in the country has ever accepted the Trump-allied claims of systematic election fraud.
The Star reports that, according to Kansas City attorney Hugh O’Donnell, at least 60 attorneys have signed onto a formal complaint for the Missouri Supreme Court’s Office of Chief Disciplinary Counsel against Hawley. Alan Pratzel, who currently serves as the chief of the office where the attorneys targeted their complaints, “wouldn’t confirm or deny whether an official complaint against Hawley has already been filed,” the Star says.
In the meantime, the paper offered a harsh characterization of Hawley’s belligerent behavior, commenting as follows:
‘Hawley, like any other attorney accused of malfeasance, should be afforded due process. But history will not be kind to the junior senator from Missouri. He brought shame to his office and his profession — and must answer for his treasonous misdeeds… There should be no question about Hawley’s culpability, and his indefensible actions must have consequences. He helped lead the charge to try to overturn a free and fair election, echoing President Donald Trump’s fabricated claims that the 2020 presidential election was stolen and offering a fist pump of encouragement to the rioters who stormed our country’s Capitol.’
Hawley, as the paper mentions, was caught on camera raising his first towards an angry crowd outside of the Capitol in solidarity with their stance. He made the attention-seeking stunt before the rioting unfolded and Trump’s supporters stormed the building — but he didn’t exactly renounce his previous position after the violence. Instead, he still voted against the confirmation of some of Biden’s electoral votes, despite the total lack of meaningful evidence of any kind of systematic problem.
The Kansas City Star added as follows:
‘Hawley’s actions were cynical, wrong, politically motivated and incendiary. He has dishonored his office — and his profession. Hawley violated the oath that all lawyers in Missouri swear to support the Constitution, and a formal investigation by the Office of Chief Disciplinary Counsel should hold him to account.’
If Hawley were to face formal charges of misconduct in response to the attorneys’ complaints, then his case would head to the Missouri Supreme Court. He has claimed that he was merely hoping to represent Missouri residents who were concerned about election integrity via objecting to Biden’s electoral votes, but instead of his pompous, anti-democratic antics, he could have offered some basic helpful information to these constituents about the very well-documented integrity of the presidential election.
