At issue are limits the First Amendment places regulating lawyers' speech outside the context of court proceedings, including bald-faced lies like those Giuliani has repeatedly told to the American people in the months following the election, as well as whether the mechanism of lawyer discipline is an effective way to address such wholesale lying to the nation. Politically, the problem here is that the abrupt suspension of his license to practice in New York State, even before a hearing where he could present his defense, helps support his phony claims about a supposed “deep state,” “Democrat” conspiracy against him and his client, Trump. Contrary to the wise counsel of W.S. Gilbert and Dee Dee Ramone, the punishment here does not appear to fit the crime... Therefore, Rudy did his repugnant job, well; but his job was not ever to convince judges of the merits of his lies, but rather to confuse the public and undermine democracy. That makes Giuliani a problematic case for the remedy of a public suspension of his law license, premised on the need to protect the legal system.