Jenna Ellis, a lawyer who once described herself as part of an “elite strike force” fighting for Donald Trump, was formally censured by the Colorado Supreme Court after admitting to making 10 misrepresentations about the 2020 election.
Ellis, who is from Colorado, agreed with a disciplinary judge that she repeatedly misrepresented facts on social media and national television, including by claiming the presidential election had been stolen and that Trump “won in a landslide,” according to an opinion this week approving a stipulation between Ellis and the state’s top court.
Ellis agreed she had a “selfish motive” in making the misrepresentations and that she engaged in a pattern of misconduct — two aggravating factors against her in the matter. Her lack of prior discipline was a factor that weighed in her favor. The judge decided Wednesday against disbarring Ellis.
The public censure stems from complaints filed by two nonprofits, The 65 Project and the States United Democracy Center, which accused her of abusing her law license as part of her effort to overturn President Joe Biden’s election and hand the presidency to Trump.
Aaron Scherzer, a lawyer for States United, said Ellis’ actions were part of “a plot that ultimately led to a violent insurrection.” Michael Teter, managing director of The 65 Project, said the process had taken too long.
“It should not take 366 days to hold accountable a lawyer who, in a few short weeks of constant lies and misrepresentations, placed American democracy in such jeopardy,” Teter said in a statement.
Ellis worked closely with former Trump campaign lawyer Sidney Powell and longtime Trump attorney Rudy Giuliani, appearing with them at a Nov. 19, 2020, news conference to spread the false claim that the election was rigged.
Michael Melito, a lawyer representing Ellis in the matter, didn’t respond to a message seeking comment.
Ellis made several of the misrepresentations on Fox News, including a Dec. 5, 2020, interview with host Jeanine Pirro in which Ellis claimed that more than 500,000 votes in Arizona “were cast illegally.”
Ellis agreed she made a similar misrepresentation during an appearance on Maria Bartiromo’s Fox Business show when she said, “the outcome of this election is actually fraudulent, it’s wrong, and we understand that when we subtract all the illegal ballots, you can see that President Trump actually won in a landslide.”
Ellis agreed she also misrepresented the facts by claiming in November 2020 that “Hillary Clinton still has not conceded the 2016 election.”
The judge said that Ellis had not committed any crimes. The standard for her conduct “provides that reprimand is generally appropriate when a lawyer knowingly engages in any other conduct that involves dishonesty, fraud, deceit, or misrepresentation and that adversely reflects on the lawyer’s fitness to practice law.”
