Discipline Sought for Lawyer Who Filed Pleadings Calling a Judge 'Black-Robed Bigot'
Lawyer discipline authorities in Minnesota are seeking discipline of an attorney for reportedly filing suits in bad faith and harassing judges and litigants with religious slurs. One pleading referred to a federal judge as a “black-robed bigot.”
In a petition for disciplinary action against Rebekah Nett, the Office of Lawyers Professional Responsibility maintains Nett has engaged in longstanding misconduct in Minnesota and Wisconsin, where she represented a Wisconsin group that some former members describe as a cult, the St. Paul Pioneer Press reports.
“In the course of prosecuting these litigations, respondent made herself, and filed on behalf of her clients, statements and affidavits that she either knew to be false or were made with reckless disregard as to their truth or falsity concerning the integrity of judges, adjudicatory officers or public legal officers,” according to the petition, which the Pioneer Press says was dated Aug. 8, but make public Thursday.
Nett has 20 days to respond.
A Catholic rights group filed an ethics complaint against Nett last year after the attorney filed pleadings in bankruptcy case and lashed out at the judge overhearing the case, referring to her as a “black-robed bigot” a “Catholic Knight Witch Hunter” and a “dirty Catholic.”
Nett accused U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Nancy Dreher and court officers of being part of a Catholic conspiracy aimed at destroying Wisconsin’s Dr. R.C. Samanta Roy Institute of Science and Technology, or SIST. The group considers itself an education organization, but former members have said it’s a religious cult.
The Pioneer Press reports that Nett grew up as a member of the group and has spent much of her legal career representing it and its subsidiaries.
Also see:
ABAJournal.com: “Lawyer Faces Possible Sanction for Signing Client Memo Calling Judges ‘Bigoted Catholic Beasts’”
