INDIANAPOLIS — A new complaint from the Indiana Supreme Court’s disciplinary commission claims that Indiana Attorney General Todd Rokita was dishonest and ultimately made false statements to the court.
This comes after Rokita signed a conditional agreement that stated he violated two Indiana Rules of Professional Conduct, something which he was publicly reprimanded for in November 2023.
How did we get here?
In 2023, Rokita was the subject of a disciplinary complaint, and was reprimanded by the Indiana Supreme Court in reference to public comments and statements surrounding his office’s investigation into Dr. Caitlin Bernard between July 2022 and September 2022.
At that time, the commission found that Rokita had violated two rules of the Indiana Rules of Professional Conduct, specifically surrounding his comments about the investigation in an interview with Fox News host Jesse Watters in July 2022.
During the interview, Rokita told Watters, in front of a national audience, that Bernard is an “abortion activist acting as a doctor – with a history of failing to report.”
According to previous reports, Bernard is an Indianapolis obstetrician-gynecologist who performed an abortion on a 10-year-old rape victim and was eventually found to have violated patient privacy laws by talking publicly about the procedure.
Following his public reprimand, Rokita made a statement on Nov. 2, 2023, denying that he violated any laws or anyone’s confidentiality. This comes after Rokita signed a conditional agreement/affidavit surrounding the discipline for this complaint.
At the time, the disciplinary commission requested that the Indiana Supreme Court release Rokita’s conditional agreement because Rokita’s public statements called into question Rokita’s “acceptance of responsibility.”
Rokita said at the time that nothing he said or signed was false, stressing that he was not aware of any requirement to indicate contrition with public statements he makes.
In February 2024, the Indiana Supreme Court released the conditional agreement, which included the statement that “(Rokita) has accepted responsibility for his misconduct.” The documents, signed by Rokita, said that he agreed to the discipline “without being subject to any coercion or duress whatsoever.”
In a statement from Rokita in February, he said that this order closed the case.
“Nothing I said since the Final Order was entered contradicts those documents,” Rokita said. “Our office looks forward to continuing our work for regular, everyday Hoosiers – like protecting the 2nd Amendment, keeping the convicted criminals behind bars, protecting patient privacy and securing nearly $1 billion for Hoosier taxpayers.
What does the new complaint allege?
In the new complaint, the commission claims that in November 2023, Rokita:
- Made false statements to the Supreme Court in the conditional agreement and accompanying affidavit.
- This included statements like Rokita’s “sworn assertions that he believed there existed grounds for his discipline and that he believed he could not successfully defend himself if the matter was prosecuted.”
- Engaged in dishonest behavior and misrepresented to the Supreme Court in a conditional agreement and accompanying affidavit that he had accepted responsibility for his misconduct.
- Issued a news release that contracted the statements he swore to in the conditional agreement and accompanying affidavit.
The complaint ultimately requests that Rokita be disciplined as warranted for his professional misconduct.
The commission said that through its investigation, it sent subpoenas to Rokita and his communications staff to provide copies of all prior drafts of the Nov. 2, 2023 news release that were written, edited, revised or reviewed by Rokita. The subpoenas also requested electronic communications sent to or from Rokita about the news release.
The commission claims that the proposed news release was drafted in early October 2023. Multiple drafts of the release took place and Rokita allegedly took an active part in drafting, editing and instructing what he wanted included in the release.
The complaint included prior drafts of the release that had titles like:
- “Rokita beats attempt to take his law license” (Oct. 19, 2023 draft)
- “Cancel culture loses battle to vindicate abortionist, take law license and stifle free speech.” (Oct. 22, 2023 draft)
The drafts also contained the following language as to Rokita’s reason for “settling the matter” as well as “his ability to defend his legal cause:”
- “This settlement was made only to save Indiana taxpayer money, and I do not feel as though I did anything wrong…” (Oct. 13, 2023 draft)
- “I was not found to have violated anyone’s confidentiality or any laws… I will state again – as I did at the time and as I articulate below – that what I said was factual. But, ending this matter now means I can save a significant amount of taxpayer money from defending these facts…” (Oct. 16, 2023 draft)
- “I could have fought over 16 words, but ending this politically driven litigation will save alot of taxpayer money.” (Oct. 19, 2023 draft
The commission claims that Rokita was quoted in the Indiana Lawyer in January that he did not do anything “dishonest, illegal or even wrong,”
FOX59/CBS4 has reached out to Rokita’s office in reference to this story. This story will be updated if his office returns the request for comment.
