Jack Thompson disbarred by Florida State Supreme Court

25 September 2008

2 Comments

Posted by:Josh

Anti-gaming crusader Jack Thompson has officially been disbarred by the Florida Supreme Court.

You may recall that Jack Thompson was recommended by a Florida Judge to be permanently disbarred after he committed multiple violations of the Florida Bar rules as well as other acts of misconduct by the lawyer.

And now the Florida Supreme Court has agreed with that recommendation, smacking Jack Thompson down with the Hammer of Justice.

“Based on the record before it, the Court agrees that the respondent is not amenable to rehabilitation. Further, the Court approves the referee’s recommendation that permanent disbarment is the appropriate sanction,” read the order.

Thompson will now have to close out his practice and make arrangements for existing clients within thirty days. He can file a motion to have his case reheard, but there is already a sanction on Thompson in place, which means he’ll need another member of the Florida Bar “in good standing” to sign off with him before the Florida court will even consider rehearing his case.

Of course, Thompson himself is on the defensive regarding the court’s decision. In a prepared statement that he sent to the media, he claimed that the disbarment was an act of retaliation against him for a number of actions, including a recent civil lawsuit where he names more than 70 defendants (and one late defendant’s estate) that includes the Florida Bar and all seven of the state’s Supreme Court Justices for “violations of his civil rights” as he alleges. That’s right, all of Florida is against him!

In Jack Thompson’s own words, “The timing of this disbarment transparently reveals its motivation. This rush to disbarment is in retribution for the filing of that federal suit. With enemies this foolish, Thompson needs only the loyal friends he has.” Notice that he speaks of himself in the third person.

Jack Thompson made a name for himself by attacking the video game industry and picking up the mantle of “video game violence destroying our kids morality” and has been most vocal about Rockstar and their Grand Theft Auto and Bully franchises, the latter of which he tried to get banned in Florida. He even went so far as to blame Columbine on Doom and made this infamous quote that video games “mentally molest minors for money.” He was even publicly disavowed by the President of the National Institute of Media and the Family.

The sad thing in my mind is that Jack Thompson parades around acting as if he speaks for all Christians. Well he certainly doesn’t speak for me nor for any of my friends who are perfectly fine with going to church on a regular basis and also playing all the latest video games, whether it’s Gears of War or Super Smash Bros. Brawl. Heck even my pastor owns a copy of Mortal Kombat Trilogy for N64 (ok not modern but a good example none-the-less). So I’m glad to see this self-righteous man get his due. It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to realize that everything he says is for his own personal gain and pride. I’m all for keeping violent video games out of the hands of those who shouldn’t be playing them, but that doesn’t mean you need to dis-respect the medium as a whole in the process. And that’s where Thompson took a wrong turn. He also used very charged rhetoric that was, in my opinion, unbecoming of someone who says he is of the same faith as I am. But as they say, what goes around comes around.

Via GameSpot