Indiana Attorney General Todd Rokita submitted a new and bombastic filing on Wednesday accusing the Indiana Supreme Court Disciplinary Commission of caving to outside pressure in a “political melee,” saying it could no longer give him fair treatment.
Inside Indiana Business reports that many of the filings and decisions of the commission are private, unless the Indiana Supreme Court decides it would be in the public interest to publicize them – which the commission petitioned for in his disciplinary case. Rokita said he doesn’t oppose a motion to unseal the conditional agreement, so long as all of the deliberations and meetings related to him fall under the same “extraordinary circumstances.” In his conclusion, Rokita said that his “style and content” were not grounds for the Commission to discipline him as a lawyer.
In a November split decision and public reprimand, the Indiana Supreme Court found he had violated two of the Rules of Professional Conduct for lawyers:
- They said Rokita’s comments constituted an “extrajudicial statement” that he knew — or reasonably should’ve known — would be publicly disseminated and would prejudice related legal proceedings.
- They also said his statements had “no substantial purpose” other than to embarrass or burden Dr. Caitlin Bernard.
The misconduct issues stem from his televised comments about Bernard, an OB-GYN who performed an abortion on a 10-year-old rape victim from Ohio and was later disciplined before the Medical Licensing Board for discussing the procedure publicly.
2 comments
this may be something I regret saying later however, the AG not being of a fair, firm or objective public servant in an extraordinary public office can’t be allowed to politicize or comment with the vindictive and inflammatory comments against a Dr who only performed her duties. the law is wrong and enforcement above and beyond the scope is fascist.
We also cannot allow the alphabet people or the death cult to ignore the laws and expected standards of societal morality!