The United States Supreme Court has rejected a petition from Mark and Patricia McCloskey to appeal the sanctions against the St Louis couple.
The pro-Second Amendment attorneys went viral for defending their Missouri home from violent Black Lives Matter rioters in 2020.
The court declined to hear the McCloskeys’ appeal to end a probationary period of a suspension of their law licenses put in place by the Missouri Supreme Court in February.
The state’s chief disciplinary counsel wanted to suspend their licenses but the state Supreme Court decided to institute a one-year probation instead.
They are allowed to practice law but are required to “provide 100 hours of pro bono legal services” and report any other criminal charges or job changes.
Mark McCloskey is running as a Republican candidate for the open U.S. Senate seat in Missouri.
He said:
“I was hoping that they would find that a lawyer who’s had a clean and spotless record for 37 years of practicing – that sanctioning them for doing no more than defending themselves would be a concept that they would take seriously and take under submission.”
“But I wasn’t surprised.”
In their appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court, the McCloskeys argued that the state court’s ruling violated their Second Amendment rights and their rights to due process.
https://t.co/AF4XEERGnb— Columbia Tribune (@columbiatribune) June 6, 2022
“In entering its rulings for sanctions against Petitioners Mark T. and Patricia McCloskey,” they wrote in a court filing.
“The Supreme Court of Missouri necessarily determined that the McCloskeys’ actions in standing guard of their home and property with firearms displayed constitutes conduct of ‘moral turpitude,’ despite the protections for such action under the Second and Fourteenth Amendments to the United States Constitution, and despite the fact the McCloskeys were praised by President Trump and pardoned by Missouri Governor Parson.”
The pair pleaded guilty to misdemeanor assault and harassment charges and turned in their guns in June 2021.
However, they were later pardoned by Missouri Gov. Mike Parson, a Republican.
“As many of you know, Patty and I faced political prosecution for having the audacity to defend our lives and property from an angry mob,” Mark McCloskey wrote in an August 2021 statement.
“Today we are incredibly thankful that Governor Mike Parson righted this wrong and granted us pardons.”
Justices won’t hear appeal from couple who pointed guns at Black Lives Matter protesters https://t.co/r66fTC4rUJ pic.twitter.com/djd2lzl1EB
— The Hill (@thehill) June 6, 2022
