In an extraordinary and unprecedented lawsuit, a group of law professors, along with a civil rights organization (Civil Rights Corps), has filed a Civil Rights action in New York federal court challenging under the First Amendment the constitutionality of an obscure New York state regulation (Judiciary Law §90(10)) that arguably requires disciplinary complaints against attorneys to be kept secret unless a public sanction has been imposed, or the Appellate Division for "good cause" authorizes disclosure, which almost never happens. This statute has long been the subject of debate in New York. Many experts claim that the statute prevents only the grievance committee from revealing the complaint and the grievance proceedings. Numerous past complaints, including the recent ones against Giuliani, have been publicized without retribution against those who filed it. In this case, New York City's Corporation Counsel claims that the law professors acted unlawfully and swiftly sought to punish them for the public filings of disciplinary complaints against prosecutors who had engaged in misconduct.

What makes this lawsuit so unique is that the professors publicly disclosed on the Internet the complaints they made to the Departmental Disciplinary Committee against nearly two dozen Queens County prosecutors identified by name who had been criticized by New York appellate courts for their misconduct but had not been subject to professional discipline. In a shocking turn, the professors themselves have been threatened with professional discipline by the City's Corporation Counsel for violating New York's confidentiality rule.