Nine lawyers, including Sydney Powell, allied with former President Donald Trump, face fines and other sanctions after a judge said Wednesday they abused the judicial system to undermine the 2020 election. Ben Margot / AP Hide caption
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Ben Margot / AP
Nine lawyers, including Sydney Powell, allied with former President Donald Trump, face fines and other sanctions after a judge said Wednesday they abused the judicial system to undermine the 2020 election.
Ben Margot / AP
Nine attorneys who have allied themselves with former President Donald Trump, who filed an unsuccessful lawsuit against the results of Michigan’s 2020 presidential election, will face fines and other punitive measures for their legal efforts, a district judge ruled Wednesday.
“This lawsuit represents a historic and profound abuse of legal process,” wrote US District Judge Linda Parker in her damning verdict on the case.
“It’s one thing to take responsibility for defending rights that come with one
allegedly fraudulent elections, “she wrote.” It is a different matter to mislead a federal court and the American people into believing that rights have been violated, whether laws or rights have actually been violated. That happened here. “
The verdict stems from a lawsuit brought by attorneys – including Trump supporters Sidney Powell and Lin Wood – who tried to decertify Michigan’s election results on the false pretext that ballots had been tampered with in favor of Joe Biden.
Biden won Michigan by more than 150,000 votes.
Trump and his allies attempted to overturn election results in a number of states, often calling on local elected officials to step in to support their cause. Outside of office, Trump continued to spread unsubstantiated claims of a fraudulent election.
That lie was a direct catalyst for the deadly January 6th uprising in the U.S. Capitol in which supporters of the former president stormed the national seat of democracy and tried to stop the confirmation of Biden’s election victory.
“This case was never about fraud – it was about undermining people’s trust in our democracy and degrading the legal process that would lead to it,” wrote Judge Parker.
After the lawsuit failed, the state of Michigan and the city of Detroit asked the judge to sanction the nine attorneys. She agreed on Wednesday and asked them to pay the state and city costs to defend themselves against the lawsuit.
The costs have not yet been settled.
At a July hearing, Powell said she took “full responsibility” for the paperwork of the lawsuit. Powell told the judge that she practiced as an attorney to the highest standards.
Parker also ordered that the nine attorneys named in the judgment receive 12 hours of legal training, six of which will focus specifically on the right to vote. They could face possible further action in the individual states in which they practice.
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