Legal group calls on Texas bar to discipline Ted Cruz over efforts to overturn 2020 election

Wyatte Grantham-Philips, USA TODAY
·3 min read

A group of lawyers and legal activists has called on the State Bar of Texas to investigate and discipline Sen. Ted Cruz for his "leading role" in trying to overturn the results of the 2020 presidential election.

The 15-page ethics complaint was filed Wednesday by The 65 Project, a nonprofit that works to hold attorneys "who raise fraudulent claims to overturn legitimate elections results" accountable. In the complaint, The 65 Project details Cruz's actions between Election Day 2020 and the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol.

"Mr. Cruz played a leading role in the effort to overturn the 2020 elections. And while the same can be said about several other elected officials, Mr. Cruz’s involvement was manifestly different," the complaint read.

The complaint then notes that Cruz "moved beyond his position as a United States senator" by agreeing to represent President Donald Trump and Pennsylvania Republicans as an attorney in litigation contesting the 2020 election results before the U.S. Supreme Court in December 2020.

By the numbers: President Donald Trump's failed efforts to overturn the election 

"Public officials have worked to undermine American democracy over the last two years, and Ted Cruz is one of those who led the charge on that front – but he did something more than that: He lent his law license and his credibility as an attorney to that effort," Michael Teter, managing director of The 65 Project, told USA TODAY. "He should be disciplined for that."

The 65 Project also described how Cruz "knew that claims of voter fraud or the election being stolen were false" but he "regularly repeated dishonest and deceitful claims about the 2020 election" – violating Texas Disciplinary Rules of Professional Conduct for lawyers holding public office by spreading false information.

The complaint called on the State Bar of Texas to investigate Cruz's conduct and discipline him based on the investigation. The complaint didn't specify how Cruz should be disciplined, but the authors did point to the suspension of the law license for Rudy Giuliani, one of Trump's former lawyers.

"Just as Mr. Giuliani has been disciplined for his conduct, so should Mr. Cruz," the complaint read.

2021: Rudy Giuliani's law license has been suspended in Washington 

"We're not presuming that it should be necessarily disbarment, but it is certainly something that's on the table," Teter said.

In a response sent to USA TODAY, Cruz's press secretary, Dave Vasquez, said The 65 Project was a "far left dark money smear machine run by a who's who of shameless Democrat hacks. They're not a credible organization and their complaint won't be worth the paper it's printed on."

Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, speaks during a hearing in the Russell Senate Office Building on Capitol Hill on Dec. 15, 2021 in Washington.
Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, speaks during a hearing in the Russell Senate Office Building on Capitol Hill on Dec. 15, 2021 in Washington.

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The 65 Project's advisory board includes retired Utah Supreme Court Chief Justice Christine M. Durham; Paul Rosenzweig, a former U.S. Department of Homeland Security official who had investigated the Clintons with Ken Starr; and Stuart Gerson, who was the acting U.S. attorney general during the Clinton administration. The complaint against Cruz was also signed by a former president of the State Bar of Texas, William Whitehurst, among others.

The ethical complaint against Cruz follows The 65 Project's 10 previous complaints against attorneys who, the nonprofit argues, also tried to overturn legitimate election results.

"Any lawyer who tries to use their position to undermine American democracy and subvert the will of the people should be held accountable," Teter said. "And there needs to be a system of responsibility and deterrence to prevent that from happening in the future."

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Group: Texas bar should discipline Ted Cruz for 2020 election conduct

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