Sidney Powell Won’t Be Disbarred, Court Rules—But These Trump Lawyers Are Still Being Punished

Topline

A Texas state judge Thursday threw out the State Bar’s effort to discipline far-right attorney Sidney Powell for her attempts to overturn the 2020 election—which could have led to her disbarment—though a slew of other attorneys who have represented or worked with former President Donald Trump have still been punished or are now facing consequences for doing so, and Powell still may be penalized for her voter fraud allegations.

Sidney Powell conducts a news conference at the Republican National Committee on November 19, 2020.

CQ-Roll Call, Inc via Getty Images

Key Facts

John Eastman: Eastman had 11 charges filed against him by counsel for the California State Bar stemming from his efforts to challenge the election results with Trump, and the state bar intends to seek his disbarment in court—and the attorney faces the possibility of criminal charges after the House January 6 Committee made a criminal referral against him to the Justice Department in December.

Rudy Giuliani: Giuliani, who led Trump’s post-election efforts, has already had his law license suspended and proceedings are under way to determine if he should be fully disbarred; he’s also been sued for defamation by voting machine companies Dominion Voting Systems and Smartmatic and has been identified as a target in the criminal investigation into the 2020 election in Fulton County, Georgia.

Michael Cohen: Trump’s longtime attorney served a three-year sentence in prison and home confinement for tax evasion and campaign finance-related crimes, after he orchestrated a series of “hush money” payments to adult film actress Stormy Daniels and former Playboy model Karen McDougal over allegations they had affairs with Trump.

Alina Habba: Habba, who’s representing Trump in many of his post-presidency legal battles, has been sanctioned multiple times in Trump’s failed lawsuit against Hillary Clinton, ordered to pay with her co-counsel $50,000 in sanctions and $16,274 in attorneys’ fees to one defendant in the case, and then sanctioned in January for nearly $1 million payable to Clinton, her campaign and other Democratic operatives—the same punishment Trump faced.

Jeffrey Clark: Former DOJ attorney Clark, who aided Trump’s post-election efforts from within the agency, faces charges from the D.C. Bar, which filed a complaint against him in July 2022 and kicked off legal proceedings that could result in him being disbarred.

Cleta Mitchell: Mitchell, who participated in Trump’s phone call in which he urged Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger to “find” enough votes to overturn the state’s election results, resigned from her law firm Foley & Lardner in January 2021, saying she left the firm due to a “massive pressure campaign” against her from the left to oust her over her associations with Trump.

Pending Complaints: Ethics complaints urging state bars and disciplinary boards to investigate attorneys have been filed and remain pending against multiple Trump lawyers who aided his efforts to overturn the 2020 election, including Mitchell, Jenna Ellis and Boris Epshteyn, though court records show another complaint against Trump attorneys in New Mexico was dismissed.

Attorneys’ Fees: Trump and his campaign have been ordered to pay attorneys’ fees in a number of failed lawsuits—though it’s unclear if his attorneys have been forced to personally shoulder any part of those costs—including more than $20,000 to two Georgia counties over post-election litigation, $1.3 million to former White House advisor Omarosa Manigault and more than $54,000 to Daniels.

What To Watch For

The Texas court said the state bar can still appeal the ruling ending Powell’s disciplinary case, though it has not said yet if it will do so. Eastman, Guiliani and the other attorneys who still face disciplinary action could be disbarred, or possibly face less serious charges like probation, if charges against them pan out. The lawyers representing Trump in New York have been threatened with sanctions, while the attorneys representing Trump in the DOJ’s investigation into White House documents stored at Mar-A-Lago may also face legal liability in that probe.

Tangent

A number of lawyers who aided Trump’s efforts to overturn the 2020 election, but did not directly represent him in court or advise him, have also faced punishments. Powell’s co-counsel in the Michigan case—in which Trump was not a plaintiff—were all sanctioned and jointly forced to pay more than $175,000 in attorneys’ fees, as well as ordered to undergo legal education and referred to their respective state bars for potential discipline. Attorney Lin Wood, who was involved with the Michigan litigation along with other post-election lawsuits, has been under investigation by the State Bar of Georgia for his efforts since even before the Michigan order was issued. The Georgia Bar confirmed to Forbes in December that the case against Wood remains pending, and it could result in his disbarment. Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton was also sued by the state bar’s disciplinary counsel in May over the lawsuit he filed at the Supreme Court seeking to overturn the election.

Chief Critic

Trump’s attorneys have largely denied wrongdoing and opposed the efforts to punish them, with the exception of Cohen, who pleaded guilty to his crimes. Eastman’s attorney Randall A. Miller said in a statement Thursday that Eastman “disputes ‘every aspect’ of the action that has been filed against him by the [California] State Bar,” claiming the move was part of a “nationwide effort . . . to penalize attorneys who opposed the current administration” in the 2020 election and Americans “should be troubled by this politicization of our nation’s state bars.”

Surprising Fact

After the court ordered sanctions in the Clinton case against Trump and Habba, Trump and Habba have gone on to voluntarily withdraw two cases stemming from James’ litigation against the Trump Organization, which courts had suggested could be viewed as frivolous and result in sanctions.

Key Background

Trump and his allies filed approximately 60 court cases in the aftermath of the 2020 election seeking to change its outcome, ultimately losing all but one case, which was a minor dispute in Pennsylvania that did not impact the overall results. Since leaving office, Trump has continued to be deeply ensnared in legal issues, as he’s faced numerous lawsuits over his alleged role in the January 6 riot at the Capitol building, ongoing federal and county investigations over the 2020 election, the DOJ’s probe into the documents at Mar-A-Lago, James’ lawsuit against the Trump Organization, a Manhattan investigation into his and his company’s financial dealings and a defamation lawsuit from writer E. Jean Carroll, among other litigation. None of those legal cases have so far resulted in any charges being brought against Trump—though it’s still too early to say whether he could be indicted in the ongoing probes against him—and Trump has broadly claimed he’s innocent of any wrongdoing.