Attorney Resigns after Suggesting Education Secretary Betsy DeVos Deserves to Be Sexually Attacked

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Summary: After suggesting someone should sexually attack Education Secretary Betsy DeVos on his Twitter account, a Texas lawyer has resigned from his position.

There are some things that are best not said. Central Texas civil lawyer Robert Ranco learned this after making inappropriate remarks on Twitter. The attorney posted last weekend a remark encouraging someone to sexually attack Education Secretary Betsy DeVos.

  

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Due to the backlash from his remarks, Ranco submitted a resignation from the local law firm where he was employed, Carlson Law Firm. The firm also has offices in Killeen and Temple.

Ranco’s tweet started an uproar across the country. He made the remark in response to her Title IX declaration that suggested male college students accused of sexual assault be removed from their school without due process. He said Friday evening, “I’m not wishing for it…but I’d be ok if #Betsy DeVos was sexually assaulted.”

The 48-year-old from Round Rock offered up a voluntary resignation after a meeting Monday with Carlson. Carlson said in a statement that they reached two distinct conclusions. Carlson said, “With over 150 employees, 75 percent of whom are women, anyone in our company advocating or even expressing apathy towards sexual assault is an affront to all victims and a line that simply cannot be uncrossed.” He continued that the tweet has been “an enormous distraction that has taken away from the mission of our firm, which is to care for and help people.”

Ranco said, “My tweet from Friday was a mistake. I take full responsibility from it. It was my mistake and nobody else’s and I apologize. I’ll be working continuously moving forward to make it for my mistake. I hope that Secretary DeVos and anyone else who was offended, impacted, shocked by my actions that they can find it in their hearts to forgive me.”

Carlson continued, “For those of you who are wondering why this took so long, let me start by saying that this firm is a family and I believe it’s up to me to show the same loyalty that I ask of people. I wasn’t going to make a rash decision about a member of this family just to appease people on social media. As a man of faith, believer in forgiveness, and longtime friend, it is my sincere hope that Rob will learn from this experience and go on to have a very successful career.”

He had been with the firm for 11 years. He has since removed his Facebook and Twitter accounts.

A petition of 3,382 people are calling for the Texas Bar Association to remove his license to practice in the state.

Do you think losing his job was an inappropriate response to the comments he made? Do you think he will face any other legal consequences? Tell us what you think in the comments below.

To learn more about the backlash people have felt from inappropriate comments, read these articles:

• Judge Punished for Inappropriate Facebook Posts 
• 6 Inappropriate Back-To-School Store Displays
• Alaska Judge Censured for Saying Some Girls “Asking For It”

Photo: carlsonattorneys.com