Jack Thompson is the Coral Gables attorney who campaigned to have 2 Live Crew's dirty rap masterpiece As Nasty As They Wanna Be taken off the shelves in Florida due to obscenity. 2 Live Crew responded with a follow-up, titled Banned in the U.S.A. Well guess who's been banned now?
Thompson was disbarred in the state of Florida today for professional misconduct. He has 30 days to request a retrial, but the motion has to be submitted by a Florida Bar Association member in good standing. Considering he tried to have the Bar deemed unconstitutional back in 1992, he might have a hard time finding a member to stick up for him.
In recent years, Thompson had become the main moral nemesis of violent video games, and had attempted to ban games like the Grand Theft Auto series and Bully. He'd become somewhat of a joke in the legal community and had submitted court documents with pictures of "swastikas, kangaroos in court, a reproduced dollar bill, cartoon squirrels, Paul Simon, Paul Newman, Ray Charles, a handprint with the word 'slap' written under it, Bar Governor Benedict P. Kuehne, a baby, Ed Bradley, Jack Nicholson, Justice Clarence Thomas, Julius Caesar, monkeys, [and] a house of cards." His frivolous filings and bizzaro attacks on other attorneys lead the Bar to take disciplinary actions through out his career.
Dude was undeterred in his craziness, and after further complaints of professional misconduct the Bar began disbarment proceedings in February 2007. Miami-Dade Circuit Judge Dava Tunis recommended that he be found guilty of 27 different bar violations in May, and in July recommended he be permanently disbarred and fined $43,675.35. The Florida Supreme Court approved that recommendation today.
UPDATE: Thompson filed a request with the U.S. District Court for an emergency stay of the Florida Supreme Court's decision, but of course he would.
