South Dakota Public Broadcasting has a story today revisiting a topic many had not brought to mind for a while, former Attorney General Jason Ravnsborg. In the story, the South Dakota State Bar Association is in a new battle with Ravnsborg as they seek to strip him of his license to practice law for 2 years:
The Disciplinary Board of the South Dakota State Bar wants the Supreme Court to suspend former-Attorney General Jason Ravnsborg’s law license for two years.
The board issued the recommendation on May 19, 2023, which was obtained by SDPB.
Ravnsborg was impeached and removed from office last year for his role in the death of a South Dakota pedestrian.
In a blunt assessment of Ravnsborg’s position as a lawyer in the state, the disciplinary board said Ravnsborg violated professional conduct standards and eroded public confidence in the legal profession.
The board wants Ravnsborg’s law license suspended for 26 months. The suspension would start retroactively back to June 21, 2022, which was the day the state Senate removed him from office.
This action comes as Ravnsborg is in the process of securing employment.
Jeez, you kill one guy and everyone freaks out….
Everyone?????????????
‘Cmon man.
2 years ain’t nearly enough.
Piling on. Not becoming.
Surprised it hadn’t been done already.
retroactively suspending a professional license seems like a bad idea especially if the person has been using it during that time. I don’t know if Ravnsborg has been using that license but the idea is disturbing.
If the DPS suspends somebody’s driver’s license retroactively is the person then guilty of operating a vehicle without a license during that time?
There are penalties for practicing many professions without a license. With the Governor trying to recruit professionals to the state it seems like a bad idea to be advertising we accept out-of-state professional licensure but we might take it away from you, retroactively. And then you’ll be in a mess of trouble.
I think they need to reconsider this.
It’s deplorable. The legal system is already woefully inaccessible to people who really need it. No more disincentive to pursue another system is needed.
Again, a deplorable action indicating those doing it may be petty, and tyrannical.
Arg – no more “incentive” is needed.
The linked article states that Ravnsborg has not been using his license since he was removed as AG. So making it retroactive is akin to giving him credit for time served. He would only have 14 months left on the 26-month suspension. Ultimately the Supreme Court will decide it, and they’ve been known to come to their own conclusions on what the appropriate discipline is.
Ravnborg opened a can of worms by announcing that the AG office was investigating the Sanford sex abuse affair. He dragged state government and, by association, the Republican Party, into that scandal. His behavior during the Boever investigation was totally inappropriate and certainly unlawerly (if that’s a word…he’d have been better off to keep his mouth shut). The Party is running him out of the State. Were not the whole affair so tragic, it would be a comedy of errors.
Hey, Janklow was disbarred for the same amount of time – so, at least there is some consistency…
Just another reminder that we should elect the AG and others in a primary instead of letting that person stack a convention with 300 or so supporters. I suspect it will eventually happen but not until we go through bad nominees for AG, SOS, and maybe a couple others.