Trump's Lawyers Should Be Sanctioned
// 11/11/20 //
There is increasing consternation in the legal community about the lawyers lending some amount of credence to the absurd claims of fraud and illegality that Trump has been pushing. In my new piece in Newsweek, I argue that lawyers who bring cases without evidence solely to harass or delay should be sanctioned. It's what Justice Scalia would have wanted.
The piece begins:
The vast majority of Americans now recognize that Joe Biden will be our nation's next president. Nonetheless, only moments after all the major networks called the election for Biden, Donald Trump issued a defiant statement promising to "prosecute our case in court" and arguing that Biden has been "falsely" declared the winner. It's not exactly clear what Trump's legal objection is, but it appears he'll be arguing that some unspecified number of "illegal" ballots were counted, and also that there's been a media and pollster conspiracy to mislead the public.
Being a sore loser disgraces the office of the president, but acting disgracefully is not illegal. After all, the president and the few remaining pundits who repeat his totally unsupported ideas can't easily be punished for lying to the American people. But his lawyers in these promised lawsuits are different than politicians and pundits. As officers of the court, they swear oaths to present only cases that have a "basis in law and fact."
If the Trump campaign continues to file cases claiming fraud that lack any actual evidence of fraud or malfeasance, its lawyers should be fined, suspended or even disbarred. But don't take my word for it—take the word of the late conservative hero Justice Antonin Scalia.
Read the rest here.
Tags:
Rule of Law Democracy Voting & Elections