Indiana Supreme Court releases formerly confidential document from Rokita discipline case

The Indiana Supreme Court on Thursday released documents showing Attorney General Todd Rokita agreed he violated certain attorney misconduct rules when he appeared on a Fox News program in 2022 and called an Indianapolis OBGYN an “abortion activist acting as a doctor — with a history of failing to report.”

The document, which the Supreme Court said Rokita agreed should be released, already reflects what was stated in the Indiana Supreme Court’s November ruling that said Rokita admitted to misconduct. In that ruling, the court publicly reprimanded Rokita for the Fox News comment.

Following the Supreme Court's ruling on his 2022 comments on Fox News, Rokita said in a statement from his office in November, that he shared a “truthful 16-word answer” and that he was required to sign an affidavit “without any modifications.”

"As I said at the time, my words are factual," Rokita said in November. "The IU Health physician who caused the international media spectacle at the expense of her patient's privacy is by her own actions an outspoken abortion activist."Rokita shared similar sentiments in the 2022 Fox News interview after Dr. Caitlin Bernard, an Indiana physician, told the IndyStar about a 10-year-old patient who had traveled from Ohio for abortion care. Rokita wound up bringing charges against Bernard and last May the Indiana Medical Licensing Board reprimanded the doctor for violating patient privacy. The board also unanimously ruled that she had reported the child's rape appropriately.

The signed affidavit the court released Thursday is now a public record that can be used in other court proceedings. In November, two Indianapolis-area attorneys filed complaints with the Supreme Court’s disciplinary commission, alleging that Rokita committed misconduct for his statement following the court’s reprimand.

From November: Indiana AG Todd Rokita faces new investigation after Supreme Court discipline

In a post on X, formerly Twitter, Rokita emphasized Thursday that the case was closed.

“Nothing I said since the Final Order was entered contradicts those documents,” Rokita said about the release of the documents.

Complaints from November comments

Two Indianapolis-area attorneys filed misconduct complaints with the Supreme Court’s disciplinary commission last year, following Rokita’s statement about the court’s reprimand in November.

Disciplinary commission executive director Adrienne Meiring wrote to Rokita on Nov. 17, seeking a written response to allegations that he violated Indiana Court professional conduct rules, specifically that lawyers cannot knowingly make false statements to a tribunal and cannot conduct themselves dishonestly.

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One of the complaints filed by attorney Paula Cardoza-Jones pointed to the court’s opinion that Rokita admitted in an affidavit to two charges and wrote that the attorney general “directly contradicted” his statement to the court in his public response to the discipline ruling.

The discipline commission in December filed a request with the Supreme Court asking for release of the conditional agreement and affidavit Rokita signed, according to court records.

Rokita responded to that request in a court document in January, stating he did not object to the release of the documents. In that response, Rokita said his admissions in the agreement with the court “does not mean that what he said was false — the exact point he made in his release after this Court’s Order.”

Contact IndyStar's state government and politics reporter Brittany Carloni at brittany.carloni@indystar.com or 317-779-4468. Follow her on Twitter/X @CarloniBrittany.

This article originally appeared on Indianapolis Star: Indiana Supreme Court releases agreement from AG Rokita discipline