Bill Donohue comments on a decision by the Supreme Court of Wisconsin responding to a complaint we lodged against attorney Rebekah M. Nett:
In a letter to the Catholic League dated September 18, the Supreme Court of Wisconsin responded to the 2011 grievance we filed against Rebekah M. Nett. We asked that she be investigated for making stridently anti-Catholic remarks against U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Nancy Dreher, et al.
The formal complaint we lodged cited the following:
- Nett filed a memo written by her client, Naomi Isaacson, which said, “Across the country the court systems and particularly the Bankruptcy Court in Minnesota are composed of a bunch of ignoramus, bigoted Catholics beasts that carry the sword of the church.”
- The memo called U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Nancy Dreher “a Catholic Knight Witch Hunter.” [Note: Dreher is not Catholic.]
- The memo called one bankruptcy trustee “a priest’s boy,” and another a “Jesuitess.”
- For her part, Nett called Dreher and other court personnel “dirty Catholics,” adding that “Catholic deeds throughout the [sic] history have been bloody and murderous.”
Our grievance against Nett was initially taken up by the Wisconsin Office of Lawyer Regulation, but when the Minnesota Office of Lawyers Professional Responsibility filed a petition for disciplinary action against Nett in the Minnesota Supreme Court, the Wisconsin court deferred judgment until Minnesota concluded its case. The conclusion: Ms. Nett’s Wisconsin law license has been suspended for a period of one year.
While it is gratifying to learn that Nett has been disciplined, the punishment is too light. No matter, Ed Koch, the former Mayor of New York City, must be looking down on us with a smile. He strongly supported our case against Nett.
