Jack Thompson officially disbarred

Lawyer Jack Thompson, a long time enemy of the video games industry, has been banned from practising law by the Florida Surpreme Court.

According to a news release rom Thompson himself posted on Kotaku, the ‘disbarment is in retaliation, among other things, for Thompson’s Tyndale House book Out of Harm’s Way, published in 2005, ‘which blew the whistle on the Florida Supreme Court’s earlier efforts in the 1990’s to literally pathologize his faith-based and successful activism against the American entertainment industry’.

According to Thompson’s release, which confirms news first released in June this year:

‘The Florida Bar’s insurance carrier was forced to pay Thompson money damages for that earlier assault upon his First Amendment rights, which is the only known payment of damages by any state bar to any lawyer for improper disciplinary efforts.

‘It appears that the State of Florida will be paying Thompson more damages this time around for its illegal, now repeated, use of discipline” to punish a Christian lawyer for his activism in the public square.

‘The timing of this disbarment transparently reveals its motivation: This past Friday Thompson filed a federal civil rights action against The Bar, the Supreme Court, and all seven of its Justices. 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.

‘Thompson looks forward to successfully litigating his federal claims, now before US District Court Judge Marcia Cooke in the Southern District of Florida.

‘Thompson always wanted to own a Bar. Now, armed with multiple US Supreme Court rulings that no state bar can do what it has done to Thompson, he is set to own that Bar.’