Originally posted by Adam_PoE
A federal judge in Colorado has sanctioned two lawyers who filed a lawsuit challenging the 2020 election late last year, finding that the case was "frivolous," "not warranted by existing law," and filed "in bad faith."In a scathing 68-page opinion, Magistrate Judge N. Reid Neureiter found that the lawyers made little effort to corroborate information they had included in the suit, which argued there had been a vast national conspiracy to steal the election from Donald Trump.
The lawyers in question—Gary D. Fielder and Ernest John Walker—alleged a bizarre plot in their lawsuit, involving election officials, Facebook, and Dominion Voting Systems, among others.
Not surprisingly, the case was dismissed months ago, but yesterday's developments focused on a necessary second step: Neureiter ordered the conspiracy-embracing lawyers to pay their many defendants' legal fees.
"In short, this was no slip-and-fall at the local grocery store," Neureiter wrote. "Albeit disorganized and fantastical, the Complaint's allegations are extraordinarily serious and, if accepted as true by large numbers of people, are the stuff of which violent insurrections are made."
Fielder and Walker are not the only lawyers facing sanctions over ridiculous cases related to the 2020 presidential election.
Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer's administration and the city of Detroit are currently seeking penalties against nine attorneys—a group that includes Trump allies Sidney Powell and L. Lin Wood—who filed anti-election case in December that was also filed "for an improper purpose."
The complaint against the pro-Trump attorneys added that their case "was never about winning on the merits of the claims, but rather, plaintiffs' purpose was to undermine the integrity of the election results and the people's trust in the electoral process and in government. The filing of litigation for that purpose is clearly an abuse of the judicial process and warrants the imposition of sanctions."
U.S. District Judge Linda Parker did not seem especially impressed with those responsible for filing bogus anti-election cases during a recent hearing.
L-O-L
Yesterday, U.S. District Judge Linda Parker ruled that the lawyers' conduct "warrants a referral for investigation and possible suspension or disbarment."
The judge described the pro-Trump case as "a historic and profound abuse of the judicial process," adding:
"Individuals may have a right to disseminate allegations of fraud unsupported by law or fact in the public sphere. But attorneys cannot exploit their privilege and access to the judicial process to do the same. And when an attorney has done so, sanctions are in order.
The attorneys who filed the instant lawsuit abused the well-established rules applicable to the litigation process by proffering claims not backed by law; proffering claims not backed by evidence; proffering factual allegations and claims without engaging in the required prefiling inquiry; and dragging out these proceedings even after they acknowledged that it was too late to attain the relief sought."
Parker went on to explain that the pro-Trump lawyers filed their case in the hopes of "undermining the people's faith in our democracy."
She concluded, "Despite the haze of confusion, commotion, and chaos counsel intentionally attempted to create by filing this lawsuit, one thing is perfectly clear: Plaintiffs' attorneys have scorned their oath, flouted the rules, and attempted to undermine the integrity of the judiciary along the way. As such, the court is duty-bound to grant the motions for sanctions."
Parker also ordered the lawyers "to pay Detroit's court costs and to undergo 12 hours of continuing legal education, including six hours on election law."
Any likeminded attorneys considering filing outlandish anti-election litigation should probably think twice.