Florida Supreme Court Sanctions Jack Thompson

The Florida Supreme Court will no longer accept anything directly from controversial Miami attorney Jack Thompson. If Thompson wants to file with the Court, he's going to need to hire another lawyer to do it on his behalf.

That's the ruling handed down by the Court late this morning.

As GamePolitics reported last month, the Florida Supreme Court issued a show cause order demanding that Thompson explain why the sanction shouldn't be issued. Clearly, Thompson's multiple responses did nothing to change the collective mind of the Justices.

The order issued by the Court may be found here, and the following passages are quoted from it:

After submitting inappropriate and pornographic materials to this Court, Thompson was specifically warned that should he continue to submit inappropriate filings, this Court would consider imposing a sanction limiting Thompson’s ability to submit further filings...

Since that order, Thompson has filed numerous additional filings which led this Court to issue an order directing Thompson to show cause why we should not limit his filings... We now sanction Thompson...

Thompson engaged, to the point of abuse... in a relentless and frivolous pursuit for vindication of his claim that he is being victimized by The Florida Bar...

Thompson’s multiple responses are rambling, argumentative, and contemptuous... What we cannot tolerate, however, is Thompson’s continued inability to maintain a minimum standard of decorum and respect for the judicial system to which all litigants, and especially attorneys, must adhere...

A thorough review of Thompson's filings lead to one conclusion. He has abused the processes of the Court... Accordingly... the Clerk of this Court is hereby instructed to reject for filing any future pleadings, petitions, motions, documents, or other filings submitted by John Bruce Thompson, unless signed by a member in good standing of The Florida Bar other than himself.

...Further, if Thompson submits a filing in violation of this order, he may be subjected to contempt proceedings or other appropriate sanctions.

For his part, Thompson has sent out an e-mail describing the Supreme Court's order as both "good news" and "idiotic."

GP: Just to be clear, this sanction imposed by the Florida Supreme Court is a separate issue from Thompson's Bar Trial which we have been reporting on in a series of articles this week. No decision has been rendered by the referee in the Bar Trial as of yet.

UPDATE: Thompson writes in to say that he mailed today's motion prior to the Florida Supreme Court's order and that, in any event, he is entitled to make an oral argument on the matter.