Former FBI Deputy Director Andrew McCabe will face an investigation into allegations he lied under oath if he ever tries to reactivate his law license to practice law, according to the Pennsylvania courts.

Mr. McCabe had been a member of the Pennsylvania bar, but became inactive in 2004 and took “retired” status in 2010. If he were to try to renew his membership in order to practice law, he would have to face a “thorough investigation” of his fitness, the state courts’ chief disciplinary officer said.

“As a result, therefore, any attempt by Mr. McCabe to seek reinstatement to active status would provide this office, the disciplinary board and the Pennsylvania Supreme Court with an opportunity to consider the allegations and conclusions of the report,” wrote Raymond S. Wierciszewski, the disciplinary officer, in a letter to Ty Clevenger.

Mr. Clevenger, an activist lawyer and head of the Transparency Project, had sought to head off the chance Mr. McCabe would try to renew his bar card after recent allegations about the former top FBI official’s behavior during the 2016 campaign and its aftermath.

Mr. McCabe was fired from the FBI based on an inspector general’s report that concluded he lied multiple times, to his boss and to both FBI agents and Justice Department investigators, including three times that he lied under oath.

He has denied the allegations in the report — particularly that his boss, then-FBI Director James Comey, didn’t know Mr. McCabe was leaking to the press. Mr. McCabe’s lawyer has said there are email and phone records to prove Mr. Comey knew.

The inspector general was concerned enough about the findings that it referred the matter to the U.S. attorney in Washington for possible criminal charges.

For his part Mr. Clevenger has filed similar grievances against Mr. Comey, Hillary Clinton and others. But he says bar associations have not always taken the matter as seriously as Pennsylvania.

“I’m very satisfied with the response,” he said. “If Andrew McCabe tries to practice law again, he’ll have to answer some very hard questions. Unlike the jurisdictions where James Comey, Hillary Clinton and her lawyers are admitted to practice law, Pennsylvania is not sweeping anything under the rug.”

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