In re Abrams, 91-BG-1518.
Decision Date | 10 July 1995 |
Docket Number | No. 91-BG-1518.,91-BG-1518. |
Citation | 662 A.2d 867 |
Parties | In re Elliott ABRAMS, Respondent, A Member of the Bar of the District of Columbia Court of Appeals. |
Court | D.C. Court of Appeals |
Charles J. Cooper, with whom William L. McGrath, Washington, DC, was on the brief, for respondent.
Michael S. Frisch, Asst. Bar Counsel, with whom Leonard H. Becker, Bar Counsel, and Julia L. Porter, Asst. Bar Counsel, Washington, DC, were on the brief, for Office of Bar Counsel.
Before WAGNER, Chief Judge,* TERRY, Associate Judge, and KERN, Senior Judge.
In this case we must decide whether we have the power to impose disciplinary sanctions against respondent Abrams, a member of the District of Columbia Bar, for making false and misleading statements before three congressional committees, even though he has received a full and unconditional presidential pardon for his actions. After reviewing the pertinent case law, we conclude that such a pardon bars the imposition of sanctions which might otherwise be imposed on attorneys who violate our disciplinary rules. Consequently, we cannot adopt the recommendation of the Board on Professional Responsibility to suspend Mr. Abrams from the practice of law for one year.
Elliott Abrams was admitted to the bar of New York in 1974 and to the bar of the District of Columbia in 1979. From July 1985 until the end of 1988, he served as Assistant Secretary of State for Inter-American Affairs under President Reagan. In that capacity he was the government's senior official in matters relating to United States policy in Central America and was a spokesman for the Administration's controversial policy of supporting the resistance movement in Nicaragua.1
In early October 1986 an American cargo plane was shot down over Nicaragua. Shortly thereafter Mr. Abrams was called to appear before various congressional committees to respond to public allegations that the government was secretly providing the Contras with arms and other supplies.2 His first such appearance was before the Senate Committee on Foreign Relations on October 10, 1986. In claiming that the Administration had not participated in the acknowledged efforts of others to supply the Contras with aid since the passage of the Boland Amendment in 1984, Mr. Abrams testified as follows:
Four days later, on October 14, Mr. Abrams testified before the House of Representatives Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence. When he was asked whether he knew if any foreign government, and in particular the government of Saudi Arabia, was supplying the Contras with aid, the following exchange took place:
Finally, on November 25, 1986, Mr. Abrams was called to testify before the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence. About four hours before his testimony was scheduled to begin, Attorney General Edwin Meese disclosed at a press conference the diversion of funds from the Iran arms sales to the Contras. Later that day Mr. Abrams testified as follows before the Senate Intelligence Committee:
I was, until today, fairly confident that there was no foreign government contributing to this. But I knew nothing, still don't know anything about the mechanisms by which money was transferred from private groups that have been raising it, to the Contras.5
The Iran-Contra affair resulted in the appointment of an Independent Counsel to investigate the actions of several high-ranking officials of the Reagan Administration, including Mr. Abrams. In early October 1991 Mr. Abrams and the Office of Independent Counsel (OIC) reached an agreement whereby Abrams agreed to plead guilty to two misdemeanor charges and to assist in the ongoing investigation. In exchange, the OIC agreed not to prosecute Abrams for any other statements or activities relating to the Iran-Contra matter. Accordingly, on October 7 the OIC filed a two-count information in the United States District Court for the District of Columbia, alleging violations of 2 U.S.C. § 192 (1988).6
The first count of the information charged that Abrams had "unlawfully withheld material information" during his testimony on October 10, 1986, before the Senate Committee on Foreign Relations. In support of this charge, the OIC alleged that, before testifying at the Senate hearing, Abrams was aware that Lieutenant Colonel Oliver North, former Deputy Director for Political and Military Affairs of the National Security Council, was working with the Contras and with private benefactors "to keep the resistance alive." In addition, Abrams had allegedly sought the advice of Lieutenant Colonel North on how to arrange a monetary contribution to the Contras from the Sultan of Brunei.
The second count charged Mr. Abrams with having "unlawfully withheld material information" during his testimony on October 14, 1986, before the House Intelligence Committee. The OIC alleged that in August 1986 Abrams had solicited a $10 million contribution on behalf of the Contras from a representative of the Sultan of Brunei. In the process, he allegedly had provided the Sultan's representative with the number of a Swiss bank account which had been opened by Lieutenant Colonel North to facilitate covert transfers of money to the Contras. On September 16 Abrams had allegedly received information that the Sultan had agreed to contribute the $10 million. The transfer had taken place on September 26, more than two weeks prior to his testimony before the House Committee.
Upon the filing of the information on October 7, 1991, Mr. Abrams pleaded guilty to both counts. A few weeks later he was sentenced to two years' probation and ordered to perform 100 hours of community service. On March 25, 1992, this court referred Mr. Abrams' conviction to the Office of Bar Counsel for appropriate action pursuant to Rule XI, § 10(e), of the court's Rules Governing the Bar. Bar Counsel in due course filed a three-count petition with the Board alleging that Abrams had violated Disciplinary Rule (DR) 1-102(A)(4) during each of his three appearances before congressional committees in October and November 1986.
A hearing was held on December 21, 1992, before a hearing committee of the Board on Professional Responsibility ("the Board"), at which Bar Counsel presented evidence of Abrams' misconduct. Mr. Abrams testified that he was "trying to walk a tightrope" during his congressional testimony:
While admitting that he had misrepresented material facts to Congress, Abrams claimed that he had been acting under the instructions of the Secretary of State not to disclose the Brunei solicitation.7 He also said that he had never functioned as an attorney while at the State Department, and asserted that his status as an attorney was irrelevant to his appearances before Congress. At the close of the hearing, Bar Counsel preliminarily recommended to the hearing committee that Abrams receive a public censure for his ethical misconduct, with the understanding that a formal written recommendation would be made later.
On December 24, 1992, three days after the hearing, President Bush granted Mr. Abrams, along with several other officials, a full and unconditional pardon for any charged or uncharged conduct relating to the Iran-Contra affair. The President gave four reasons for granting these pardons: (1) each individual had acted patriotically, even though his acts might have violated the law; (2) none of the persons involved had been motivated by economic gain; (3) they all had records of long and distinguished service to the United States; and (4) they all had already paid too great a price for the acts they had allegedly committed.
Notwithstanding the pardon, in January 1993 Bar Counsel submitted his...
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IN RE ABRAMS
...conduct, and that Bar Counsel's charges must therefore be dismissed. A division of this court agreed with Abrams. In re Abrams, 662 A.2d 867 (D.C. 1995) (Abrams I). We granted Bar Counsel's petition for rehearing en banc, In re Abrams, 674 A.2d 499 (D.C. 1996) (en banc) (Abrams II), and we ......
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...regarding a mandatory minimum sentencing provision. In the published opinion with respect to the earlier of the two cases, In re Abrams, 662 A.2d 867 (D.C.1995) (reversed on other grounds), the District of Columbia Court of Appeals considered only the extent of its power, if any, to impose ......
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U.S.A v. Bloch, Magistrate No. 10-0215M-01
...regarding a mandatory minimum sentencing provision. In the published opinion with respect to the earlier of the two cases, In re Abrams, 662 A.2d 867 (D.C. 1995) (reversed on other grounds), the District of Columbia Court of Appeals considered only the extent of its power, if any, to impose......
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U.S. v. Bloch, Magistrate No. 10–0215M–01 DAR.
...regarding a mandatory minimum sentencing provision. In the published opinion with respect to the earlier of the two cases, In re Abrams, 662 A.2d 867 (D.C.1995) (reversed on other grounds), the District of Columbia Court of Appeals considered only the extent of its power, if any, to impose ......