Thread by @gtconway3d

@ktumulty Theoretically possible but highly unlikely.

@ktumulty If they pulled this stuff in front of a judge, they'd have a decent chance of having their licenses suspended or pulled altogether.

@ktumulty But statements to the public are less often the subject of discipline, and they present the question of whether the statements are protected by the First Amendment.

@ktumulty And of course, the First Amendment protects even false statements of fact.

@ktumulty In the lawyer disciplinary contexts, the cases usually come up when lawyers publicly criticize judges out of court.

@ktumulty Judges can get very upset when that happens, and disciplinary committees like to keep the judges happy.

@ktumulty I actually know this area of the law because one of the first (pro bono) cases I had as a young lawyer was working with @emilynussbaum's father Bernie (who a couple years later became WH counsel) to represent Elizabeth Holtzman, then the Brooklyn DA.

@ktumulty @emilynussbaum She was reprimanded for criticizing a judge who forced a rape victim to physically demonstrate during a criminal how she was raped.
washingtonpost.com/archive/politi…

@ktumulty @emilynussbaum * during a criminal trial

@ktumulty @emilynussbaum At first she was charged with having recklessly made a false accusation against a judge. But we put on evidence from witnesses who had been in the courtroom (including the prosecuting ADA) that the demonstration did in fact occur.

@ktumulty @emilynussbaum So the disciplinary committee actually changed its theory to arguing, in essence, that Liz had recklessly made a *true* statement about a judge. I kid you not.

@ktumulty @emilynussbaum And they we took it all the way up to New York's highest court, and they won.
law.cornell.edu/nyctap/I91_013…

@ktumulty @emilynussbaum I wrote a cert. petition in SCOTUS pointing out that about two dozen other states applied a variety of other standards, including the NYT v Sullivan standard (which we argued applied), and that the Court should set everyone straight. Cert. was denied.
dropbox.com/s/gve8j07yfxqm…

@ktumulty @emilynussbaum Nothing has changed in 30 years as far as I know: You're only likely to get dinged as a lawyer if you publicly dump on specific judges, and the first amendment protections accorded to lawyers as officers of the court depend on what state you're in.

@ktumulty @emilynussbaum * And we