Do rules that decree that the disbarment proceedings are civil and that the burden of proof is only by a preponderance, deprive Texas attorneys sued for disbarment Due Process and the Equal Protection of the Laws?

QUESTION PRESENTED Rules promulgated by the Supreme Court of Texas decree that disbarment proceedings against attorneys are civil and that the burden of proof in those proceedings is by a preponderance. Thirty-nine other States consider such proceedings as quasi-criminal with a burden of proof. Thus, unlike Texas, those States follow this Court’s holding in In re Ruffalo, 390 U.S. 544 (1968), which held that disbarment is a punishment and the proceeding is quasicriminal. The question presented is: Do rules that decree that the disbarment proceedings are civil and that the burden of proof is only by a preponderance, deprive Texas attorneys sued for disbarment Due Process and the Equal Protection of the Laws?