Don Bailey

Attorney Don Bailey leaves the courtroom in December 2012 after a state committee held a hearing on disciplinary action against him.

(Matt Miller, The Patriot-News)

The Pennsylvania Supreme Court issued an order Wednesday suspending the state law license of Harrisburg-area attorney and former state Auditor General Don Bailey for five years.

The court's decision mirrors a recommendation the state Disciplinary Board forwarded to Pennsylvania's highest court in the spring.

Bailey, who lives in Susquehanna Township, remained defiant, however, and said he plans to take his battle to preserve his legal career to federal court. He called the disciplinary process tainted, claimed he was illegally denied an opportunity to call witnesses in his defense, and contended that his civil rights have been trampled.

"The system is corrupt. The Supreme Court in Pennsylvania is corrupt and everybody knows it," Bailey said. "Lawyers do not have the courage to speak up."

Bailey had come under fire for, among other things, falsely accusing federal judges of malfeasance. And he repeated those allegations Wednesday, even though the disciplinary board deemed them to be baseless.

The Supreme Court's one-page ruling could effectively end the 68-year-old Bailey's law career, which spanned decades and was never short on controversy.

In fighting for his law license, Bailey had not denied making his conspiracy and corruption allegations against the judges, but argued that he should not face punishment for what the disciplinary board regarded as unprofessional conduct.

Bailey, who is also a former Pennsylvania congressman, claimed he is being targeted by powerful interests who want to muzzle him.

The disciplinary board's suspension recommendation followed a series of hearings on Bailey's case that lasted more than a year.

In suggesting the penalty, the board focused on Bailey's claims that several U.S. Middle District Court judges had abused their power in dismissing some of his cases. He contended that the judges were trying to ruin his law practice.

Bailey, who bills himself as a civil rights lawyer and foe of public corruption, had also accused the judges, in writing, of committing criminal acts and being involved in cults.

In court filings, the disciplinary board cited Bailey's refusal to acknowledge the falsity of his accusations. Disciplinary officials said it seems as though Bailey regarded any adverse ruling by a judge in any of his cases as a personal attack.

“He refuses to recognize...the harm that he is causing to his clients and to the judicial system,” members of a disciplinary review committee wrote. The panel said it feared Bailey's attacks would only get worse if he was allowed to continue practicing law.

Bailey's attitude is evident from his law firm's website, on which he says he is "well known for taking on the high-profile and controversial cases many attorneys fear."

"Don adamantly defends the United States Constitution and the rights that it was intended to provide for us," the site states.

Bailey insisted Wednesday that while "there are some fine judges," his suspension is part of a "little plan to get at me" by supposedly tainted court officials.

"They will never stop me from speaking up," he vowed.

Bailey said he told clients in his dozens of active court cases to be prepared for the suspension order. "Most of them came back to me and said, 'We can't get anyone else to help us','" he said.

The suspension of his law license comes three years after Bailey was slapped with more than $50,000 in federal court sanctions for making unfounded claims of fraud and judicial misconduct in a case.

Bailey served as state auditor general from 1985 to 1989. He was a congressman from 1979 until 1983, when his Westmoreland County seat was eliminated through redistricting. He also made unsuccessful runs for governor and for the U.S. Senate.