Mark McCloskey and his wife Patricia are considering appealing the Missouri Supreme Court’s probated suspension of their law licenses to the U.S. Supreme Court.
“I'd prefer for the Supreme Court not to sanction me for doing nothing more than protecting myself, my home and my family but if that's what they choose to do, we have to respect the Supreme Court although I am contemplating taking a petition for writ to the Supremes,” Mark McCloskey told the St. Louis Record. “That's the next step in this process.”
The McCloskeys gained national attention two years ago in the wake of the 2020 George Floyd protests for brandishing an assault rifle and a semi-automatic pistol in front of their St. Louis home while demonstrators marched towards former Mayor Lyda Krewson’s nearby home.
On Feb. 8, the Missouri Supreme Court issued an order indefinitely suspending the couple’s law permits.
“It’s a probated suspension, which means that as long as Patty and I keep our noses clean and are good little boys and girls for the next year, we'll be free and we're allowed to practice in the meantime,” McCloskey said.
The St. Louis attorneys, who have been assigned a probation officer, are required to check in quarterly and refrain from violating the Rules of Professional Conduct.
“We have to do 100 hours of pro bono legal work in the year,” he said. “We do so much pro bono legal work now and a hundred hours is like a drop in the bucket. The terms aren't that onerous but the Missouri Supreme Court said that I engaged in an act of moral turpitude and that my wife did too, when all we did was stand on our front porch and defend ourselves without hurting anybody. If that's moral turpitude, then I have a different definition of it. But once again, we have to respect the opinion of the Supreme Court even if we may appeal it.”
McCloskey is using his new platform to campaign for the Senate seat that is being vacated by Sen. Roy Blunt this year.
“We've got a 'woke' bar association in Missouri just like every other state where you have to have politically correct thinking in order to keep your law license and that's just part of the constant socialist propaganda and move to the left that you're not allowed to have free thoughts,” McCloskey added. “You have to be trained to have publicly acceptable thoughts. That’s one of the reasons, if not the primary reason I'm running for U.S. Senate is to eliminate all this socialism and leftist cancel culture of censorship and monolithic thought processes being imposed upon the people.”
McCloskey is competing against fellow Republican contenders including former Gov. Eric Greitens, Attorney General Eric Schmitt, and Congresswoman Vicky Hartzler.