A Michigan judge has ordered sanctions against two pro-Trump attorneys over their attempt to challenge the 2020 presidential election result in the state. U.S. District Judge Linda Parker ordered attorneys Lin Wood and Sidney Powell to pay the legal fees of the state and city officials involved in the case, and also referred them for additional disciplinary action, which could include disbarment.
The Hill reports:
In a 110-page decision, Parker blasted the lawyers for seeking to undermine the election results with baseless claims of systemic election fraud.
“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 (but instead, speculation, conjecture, and unwarranted suspicion); 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, an Obama appointee, wrote.
“And this case was never about fraud—it was about undermining the People’s faith in our democracy and debasing the judicial process to do so,” she continued.
In July, Judge Parker raised concerns to the plaintiff’s attorneys regarding the “dubious evidence” used to support their arguments. In the virtual hearing, Wood claimed he had minimal involvement in the Michigan case while Powell defended the legal team’s case.
“We had a legal obligation to the country and to the electors to raise these issues,” she added. “It is the duty of lawyers in the highest tradition of the practice of law to raise unpopular issues.”