Attorney General Todd Rokita seeks dismissal of disciplinary charges, alleges retaliation

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Indiana Attorney General Todd Rokita has asked the state’s high court to dismiss disciplinary charges filed against him by the state commission that enforces ethics and conduct standards for lawyers.

In a motion filed Thursday, Rokita argued that the Indiana Disciplinary Commission’s actions involve retaliation and that its charges against him violate his First Amendment right to free speech, the separation of powers and Indiana’s Anti-SLAPP statute that protects critical speech against legal threats.

“Given the compelling reasons for dismissal, the commission should not force this court to clean up the commission’s mess and incur the risk of having the commission’s authority limited in all future cases,” the motion states. “The commission should withdraw the complaint to help preserve the integrity of the attorney discipline system as a public hearing will only serve to further highlight all the above issues—including the repeated appearances of impropriety by commission members and staff.”

The Indiana Disciplinary Commission filed three charges against Rokita in January for the unrepentant statements he made immediately after the Indiana Supreme Court publicly reprimanded him in 2023.

He was reprimanded for calling Dr. Caitlin Bernard, an obstetrician and gynecologist, an “activist acting as a doctor” in a TV interview on Fox News and saying his office would be investigating her. The court determined the comments had “no substantial purpose other than to embarrass or burden” Bernard.

The new charges filed against Rokita on Jan. 31 accuse the state’s chief legal officer of backtracking on the disciplinary agreement reached in the Bernard case in which he accepted responsibility for the misconduct.

Almost immediately after the court announced Rokita’s reprimand, he released a fiery news release that the commission says contradicted the disciplinary agreement.

“This retraction of acceptance of responsibility demonstrates that the respondent was not candid with the court when he attested that he admitted he had violated Indiana Professional Conduct Rules,” Adrienne Meiring, executive director of the disciplinary commission, wrote in the new complaint.

The commission also accused him of providing false statements to the Supreme Court in a sworn affidavit and of engaging in dishonest conduct when he told the court he accepted responsibility for his misconduct.

Rokita argued in his court filing Thursday that he did not contradict the earlier disciplinary agreement or a signed affidavit.

He acknowledged that his press release issued after the reprimand said: “I deny and was not found to have violated anyone’s confidentiality or any laws. I was not fined.”

Rokita argued that those statements are true because, although he was reprimanded for violating certain lawyer conduct rules, those rules are not statutory laws.

“The commission’s decision to bring a disciplinary action based on differing colloquial and legal interpretations of a term in an attempt to fabricate misrepresentation where none exists is wrong and, frankly, shocking,” Rokita’s dismissal motion stated.

The attorney general also took issue with the commission citing a statement he gave to The Indiana Lawyer last month as more evidence of his failure to accept responsibility for his behavior toward Dr. Bernard.

“One thing that is clear is that the AG did nothing dishonest, illegal or even wrong, and he will continue to fight for the people of this state no matter how much the left hates it,” Rokita said in the written statement to The Lawyer.

Rokita argued that it’s clear from the context of The Lawyer’s story on Jan. 7 that he is referring to at least three conduct complaints filed against him by the public after his reprimand and not to the reprimand itself.

His motion for dismissal also accused the commission of retaliating against him for his proposals to change the state’s lawyer disciplinary rules to more clearly allow for political speech.

The motion also repeated his concerns about how the commission’s current chair, Peter Rusthoven, could be impartial when he authored an article for Politico/Real Clear Politics endorsing the removal of President-elect Donald Trump from the ballot while investigating Rokita for filing the state’s amicus brief in the U.S. Supreme Court endorsing Trump’s position on that same issue.

Previously, Rusthoven did not respond to The Lawyer’s requests for comment.

The outcome of the heated situation between Rokita and the disciplinary commission now rests with the Indiana Supreme Court.

If the charges aren’t dismissed or Rokita and the disciplinary commission can’t reach a settlement agreement, the state Supreme Court would appoint a hearing officer to hold a public hearing on the case.

The hearing officer would then issue findings and recommendations to the court, which would decide the ultimate outcome.

Sanctions in lawyer discipline cases can range from a private or public reprimand to a suspension to permanent disbarment.

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8 thoughts on “Attorney General Todd Rokita seeks dismissal of disciplinary charges, alleges retaliation

  1. All five members of the Indiana Supreme Court agreed that Rokita did something wrong. They just split 3-2 on the severity of the punishment.

    Or you can believe Rokita’s press release and statements.

  2. Making stuff up and lying has consequences. Well, at least it used to. Your backtracking word salads don’t change the fact that you went on national TV and made stuff up. And you admitted it. Sorry, Todd.

    p.s. The formatting of this article gives me a headache.

  3. What is it about Republicans and refusing to hold each other accountable for their actions? It’s almost like they’re only in politics to serve themselves. And yet, their lemmings continue to eat up their culture war fights while being robbed of any extra money they might be able to set aside.

  4. Todd wants so much to be the Donald Trump of Indiana that, like Trump, he is willing to make a fool of himself with claims and arguments that don’t pass the smell test.

  5. The worst part of this, he is using taxpayer dollars to advance all this legal action. Can anyone give one real example of Mr. Rokita actually working to help the citizens of Indiana as the Attorney General? His sole purpose is to advance a personal religious agenda using the power of his state office.

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