A hearing for the apparent purpose of considering the potential suspension or disbarment of attorney Sidney Powell has been scheduled in Texas, which is where she is currently admitted to practice as an attorney. Powell is facing this hearing after Michigan federal Judge Linda Parker granted sanctions against her and other lawyers, including Lin Wood, who were involved in a lawsuit that sought to get Joe Biden’s presidential election victory in Michigan thrown out. No legitimate evidence in support of the idea that Biden’s win was the result of fraud has ever emerged, and Parker concluded that the case that Powell and the others brought was “a historic and profound abuse of the judicial process,” as the judge put it.
An "investigatory hearing" re: Sidney Powell's license to practice law is already scheduled for Nov. 4 before attorney discipline authorities in Texas, per release from Michigan Sec. of State about next steps after last night's sanctions order https://t.co/BOXyQ9IPDz pic.twitter.com/pN1B9SyZxV
— Zoe Tillman (@ZoeTillman) August 26, 2021
Parker referred the matter of the potential suspension or disbarment of Powell and the others to authorities in Michigan and elsewhere. There’s already a precedent for imposing a suspension to practice law in connection to the propagation of election lies, with longtime Trump ally Rudy Giuliani having been suspended from practicing law in New York and Washington, D.C., because of his election lies. Now, “Texas’ Office of the Chief Disciplinary Counsel has granted an investigatory hearing related to Powell’s bar license, set for November 4,” according to a press release from authorities in Michigan.
Other states where lawyers who participated in Powell’s baseless lawsuit — and who’ve since been sanctioned — are admitted to practice law include New York, New Jersey, and others. Thus, imminent proceedings regarding potential punishments for these lawyers could be geographically wide-ranging. As that Michigan press release put it, “Judge Parker’s ruling will mean disciplinary boards in other states will also review the attorneys’ conduct.” In the meantime, the sanctions that Parker has imposed include a requirement for the attorneys to cover certain legal fees incurred by their opponents, in addition to a requirement for them to undergo continuing education courses covering pleading standards and election law.
Powell is also facing other travails. She is the defendant in a $1.3 billion defamation lawsuit brought by Dominion Voting Systems, a voting technology company that has been the subject of pro-Trump conspiracy theories about last year’s election. Dominion has been alleged — with no real-world evidence whatsoever — to have been a key player in helping rig the election for Joe Biden, and at one point, Trump himself even ludicrously claimed that the company had “deleted” millions of his votes from around the country. Trump cited the far-right media outlet One America News in his Twitter post including that claim, and One America News is also among those who’ve now been sued by Dominion.
