TALLAHASSEE, FL — Jack Thompson, a Coral Gables, FL, attorney known for anti-porn and anti-videogame zealotry and shenanigans inside and outside the courtroom, has been ordered by the Florida Supreme Court to show cause why future filings from him should not be considered “wasting the court’s time.”“It appears to the Court that you have abused the legal system by submitting numerous frivolous and inappropriate filings in this Court,” a three-page order dated February 19th reads. “Therefore, it is ordered that you shall show cause on or before March 5, 2008, why this Court should not find that you have abused the legal system process and impose upon you a sanction for abusing the legal system, including, but not limited to, directing the Clerk of this Court to reject for filing any future pleadings, petitions, motions, letters, documents, or other filings submitted to this Court by you unless signed by a member of The Florida Bar other than yourself.
According to Law.com, Thompson was warned about his conduct last April after he submitted what the court considered “pornographic materials” as part of one of the frivolous cases to which the order referred. He was warned twice more after he filed two requests that the Florida supremes intervene on his behalf in a disciplinary case pending against him in Miami-Dade Circuit Court. In all, Thompson has filed 46 items with the Florida Supreme Court over the past year, many of which the court considers “repetitive, frivolous and insult[ing to] the integrity of the court.”
The show-cause order doesn’t seem to have made much of a dent. By February 21st, the Florida Supreme Court’s docket showed Thompson had filed three responses to it. In an email exchange with a reporter at Game Politics, Thompson said he intends not to back off, but to escalate the hostilities.
“This is the single greatest gift that any court has ever given me in my 31 years of practicing law,” he wrote. “I shall now, through a new federal lawsuit, deconstruct The Florida Bar… This court has threatened Thompson. He does not threaten back. He hereby informs this court that he will see it in federal court.”
Thompson claims the Florida Bar Association is conspiring with the state’s courts to have him disbarred. He previously sued the Bar in federal court, but the case was dismissed as a state matter, not a federal one. After receiving the show-cause order, Thompson sent a letter to U.S. Attorney General Michael Mukasey, in which he called the order a “criminal act” arising from the conspiracy, Law.com said.
“I have a right to file anything I want with the court,” Thompson told the Daily Business Review. “It is beyond bizarre that they think they can tell me I can’t seek relief. They can deny relief, but they can’t tell me I can’t seek relief.”
