The U.S. Supreme Court has denied an appeal by a number of Trump-aligned lawyers who challenged the results of the 2020 election in Michigan.
The U.S. Supreme Court has refused to undo sanctions against a handful of pro-Trump lawyers—including Sidney Powell and Lin Wood—who filed a lawsuit challenging the results of the 2020 presidential election in Michigan.
In a Feb. 20 order list, the Supreme Court denied certiorari without comment, leaving in place sanctions against seven lawyers who were part of the Michigan lawsuit, which was filed on behalf of six Republican voters.
The failed suit, brought as part of a string of “Kraken” lawsuits that Ms. Powell championed, sought emergency relief in the form of eliminating all mail ballots from being counted in the 2020 election, or disqualifying Michigan’s electoral college votes from being counted in the final tally. It also called for Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer to transmit certified election results that declared “President Donald Trump is the winner of the election.”
In August 2021, U.S. District Judge Linda Parker ordered Ms. Powell and the other lawyers to pay a $175,000 penalty in a 110-page order that called their Michigan election challenge lawsuit “frivolous” and a “historic and profound abuse of the judicial process.”
Ms. Powell has argued in court filings that her conduct was reasonable and that she had vetted her election fraud claims before filing the lawsuit.
The Supreme Court has turned down other requests from attorneys opposing court sanctions for lawsuits they filed challenging the results of the 2020 presidential election.
‘Chilling Effect on Zealous Advocacy’
Judge Parker, a nominee of President Barack Obama, said in her order that Ms. Powell waited too long to bring the lawsuit and said the voter fraud claims on which it was based were “nothing but speculation and conjecture.” In addition to a monetary penalty, the judge ordered that Ms. Powell and the others be referred to the bar associations in their respective states for disciplinary proceedings.
In June 2023, a panel for the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 6th Circuit upheld the monetary and disciplinary sanctions against Ms. Powell, Mr. Wood, and the other attorneys, though it reduced the monetary sanctions to roughly $150,000.
By Tom Ozimek
