Fla. Court Responds to ‘Make My Day’ Invitation, Sanctions Lawyer
The Florida Supreme Court has sanctioned anti-pornography lawyer Jack Thompson for court filings that are “rambling, argumentative, and contemptuous.”
The court, in an order (PDF) issued yesterday, required Thompson to retain qualified counsel and refused to accept any more filings from him without the signature of another Florida lawyer, the Daily Business Review reports.
Thompson seems to have invited the court’s ruling in a response to the court’s order to show cause why he should not be sanctioned. “This court has been foolish indeed,” Thompson wrote. Its “bizarre, idiotic show cause order indicates that it is not done being foolish. Fine. Enter the order you want. Make my day.”
Thompson is fighting disciplinary charges brought by the Florida Bar based on criticisms he directed at judges and lawyers in letters, e-mails, faxes, news releases and court filings, the Daily Business Review says in its story. Thompson contends he has a First Amendment right to speak out, and is not afraid to criticize in a barrage of motions and filings related to the disciplinary action. The case is being heard by a Florida referee, but Thompson contested the bar prosecution in a separate federal case that was dismissed and in more than 50 filings with the Florida Supreme Court.
In one recent filing, Thompson interspersed his legal arguments with pictures, including images of swastikas, kangaroos in a court, monkeys and photos of celebrities.
In another, Thompson attached pictures of gay porn to an electronic court filing. Thompson said at the time that he filed the photos to make a point about a double standard by the bar, which had taken no action against a lawyer who linked to the photos on his website.
Above the Law also wrote about the Florida court’s order. It gleaned this lesson from the case: “Don’t insult the intelligence of your judges. In writing. In a filing to the court.”
