Florida Reinstates Trump Lawyer Chesebro Despite Guilty Plea (1)

The Florida Supreme Court allowed former Donald Trump attorney Kenneth Chesebro back into practice in the state—a decision one justice criticized for going light on the litigator.

The majority opinion issued Thursday said the court found itself in a dilemma. Chesebro, who pleaded guilty in Georgia, admitted to filing a false certificate in federal court in connection with his efforts to toss the results of the 2020 presidential election. But the conviction was entered and later exonerated under Georgia’s First Offender Act and his probation was discharged.

“This matter is unique. We have a duty to regulate the practice of law in Florida and meaningfully sanction lawyer misconduct,” the high court’s unauthored opinion said in lifting a felony suspension imposed on Chesebro in 2024. “But we are also bound to respect the judgments of sister states under principles of comity.”

Chesebro’s 2020 advocacy got him suspended in multiple states and disbarred in New York, after ethics officials scrutinized his efforts to submit false electors to Congress and charges he faced in Georgia related to alleged criminal racketeering.

A Florida ethics referee recommended a short suspension, a punishment the justices said went too far.

“Suspension or a more serious sanction would have been fitting had Chesebro not been exonerated under the distinct circumstance presented here; Chesebro’s full discharge under the Georgia First Offender Act, however, is a fact we do not ignore,” the court said.

Jorge Labarga, the only justice on the court not appointed by Gov. Ron DeSantis (R), dissented saying the reprimand wasn’t proportionate to the ethical breaches.

“Lawyers, acting as officers of the court, are ethically bound to uphold the integrity of the judicial process. Consequently, the knowing submission of fraudulent Electoral College documentation to a federal court constitutes an intolerable breach of professional ethics,” Labarga said.

The court’s newest justice, Adam Tanenbaum, concurred in the judgment reinstating Chesebro with a reprimand, but noted that he wouldn’t have imposed the $2,229.37 in costs Chesebro must pay under the state’s disciplinary system.

Chesebro, based out of San Juan, Puerto Rico, represented himself. He declined to comment.

The Florida Bar was represented by bar counsel.

The case is The Florida Bar v. Kenneth Chesebro, Fla., No. SC2024-1528, 6/11/26.