Doug Stanglin

USA TODAY

The California Supreme Court denied Glass a law license

The former magazine writer was fired by %22The New Republic%22 for fabricating dozens of articles

Glass says he has undergone psychotherapy%2C apologized to publishers%2C and kept out of trouble since 1998

Former writer Stephen Glass, who was fired by The New Republic for fabricating dozens of magazine articles, was denied a law license Monday by the California Supreme Court.

The court ruled Monday that the 41-year-old Glass -- who was the subject of the film Shattered Glass -- cannot practice law in California because evidence he offered as proof of redemption and rehabilitation fell short.

The state had argued that Glass was a "serial liar" for fabricating some 42 stories in publications like The New Republic and Rolling Stone. Glass, then in his 20s, had even gone so far as to create phony business cards and phone numbers to cover his tracks.

The court was harsh in its assessment of Glass and skeptical about his claims of rehabilitation.

"Glass's journalistic dishonesty was not a single lapse of judgment, which we have

sometimes excused, but involved significant deceit sustained unremittingly for a

period of years," the court said in its decision. "Glass's deceit also was motivated by professional ambition, betrayed a vicious, mean spirit and a complete lack of compassion for others, along with arrogance and prejudice against various ethnic groups. In all these respects, his misconduct bore directly on his character in matters that are critical to the practice of law."

It also accused Glass of "hypocrisy and evasiveness" at a California State Bar hearing.

"He went through many verbal twists and turns at the hearing to avoid acknowledging the obvious fact that in his New York bar application he exaggerated his level of assistance to the magazines that had published his fabrications, and that he omitted from his New York bar list of fabrications some that actually could have injured real

persons," it said.

The court also seemed troubled that Glass had begun law school at Georgetown University even before his firing in 1998.

After getting his degree, he passed bar exams in New York and California, but has been unable to obtain a law license because of questions about his character.

He has been working as a paralegal in Los Angeles for a personal injury firm, but must work under the supervision of a licensed attorney, the Los Angeles Timesreports.

Glass' application to become a lawyer in California was pending for six years. The bar judge sided with Glass, as did a review panel, but the state committee of bar examiners that oversees admissions asked the state Supreme Court to deny him a license.

The committee described him as a "pervasive and documented liar," noting that he only admitted his guilt after being caught and did not immediately own up to all his phony stories.

The state Supreme Court noted that Charles Lane, the editor at The New Republic who unmasked Glass, showed little sympathy in his testimony to the court.

Lane testified that Glass had been engaged in a "con game, not journalism."

The court ruling also noted that Lane, in his appearance at the court, was dismayed to learn even at that late date that four articles that Lane had suspected were phony, had turned out to be fabrications, although Glass had not listed them in his extensive mea culpa.

Glass argued he has undergone psychotherapy, apologized to publishers, and kept out of trouble since 1998.

Supporters added that he had shown consistent honesty and high ethics in the years since the scandal erupted.

Susan Bloch, a law professor at Georgetown, had praised him to the court as one of the "brightest and best workers" she had ever encountered, and had recommended him to a judicial internship and clerkship.

Contributing: Associated Press



