Kenneth Chesebro, a lawyer who was a key architect of the idea to use false slates of pro-Trump electors to overturn the 2020 election results, was indefinitely barred by a state appellate court on Thursday from practicing law in New York.
The disciplinary action was the latest instance of Trump-aligned lawyers losing their licenses over their efforts to help the former president try to subvert the 2020 election.
Mr. Chesebro, 63, helped develop the plan for Mr. Trump to line up slates of people who presented themselves as electors from states that Joseph R. Biden Jr. had narrowly won. Those false slates were intended to come into play during Congress’s Jan. 6, 2021, session to certify Mr. Biden’s Electoral College victory.
The idea behind the scheme was that Vice President Mike Pence could unilaterally count the false electors for Mr. Trump instead of the real ones for Mr. Biden, or at least cite the purported existence of rival slates to delay certification.
But Mr. Pence refused to go along with that plan, angering Mr. Trump and the pro-Trump mob that rioted at the Capitol.
Mr. Chesebro was indicted on state charges in Georgia — alongside Mr. Trump and several other participants in the scheme — and pleaded guilty to a felony conspiracy charge in October 2023.
By then, at least two legal ethics groups had already filed complaints against Mr. Chesebro with the Supreme Court of New York’s attorney grievance committee. The complaints accused him of attempting to subvert democracy by pushing a dishonest interpretation of the law in violation of rules of conduct for lawyers who are licensed to practice in New York.
In an eight-page opinion, the court focused on his felony conviction in Georgia, concluding that it was sufficiently serious and similar to a felony in New York to bar him from practicing law “effective immediately.”
Other lawyers who assisted Mr. Trump’s attempt to stay in power despite losing the election have also faced discipline. Notably, the former New York mayor, Rudolph W. Giuliani, has been barred from practicing law in New York and in Washington, D.C.
A lawyer for Mr. Chesebro did not respond to a request for comment.
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