The war against authoritarianism: Whacking pro-tyranny lawyers

An article The Conversation published focuses on the crooked lawyers who attack the rule of law and our system of justice without justification but in league with American radical right authoritarianism:

Trump’s lawyers in lawsuits claiming he won in 2020 are getting punished for 

abusing courts and making unsupported claims and false statements

Over the past four years, U.S. courts and state bar associations have taken action to protect the integrity of the U.S. judicial system by penalizing attorneys who filed meritless lawsuits claiming – without evidence – that the 2020 presidential election results were invalid.

Despite aggressive litigation by attorneys denying wrongdoing, over time the U.S. legal community has exercised the oversight needed to hold most of them accountable for misusing U.S. courts.

Most lawsuits challenging the 2020 presidential election results were filed in federal courts. Federal judges not only dismissed the claims for lack of evidence, but some also penalized the attorneys who filed them.

Judge Linda Parker of the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Michigan acted first, ruling in August 2021 that a lawsuit filed by nine lawyers was “a historic and profound abuse of the judicial process.” In a 110-page opinion, she wrote that the abuses included:

“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.”

“Print, television, and social media” are where the attorneys could have made their “protestations” and “conjecture,” Parker wrote. But “such expressions are neither permitted nor welcomed in a court of law.”

In that spirit of defense of democracy and the rule of law, I sent the New York State Bar Association this little reminder of their duty to defend democracy and the rule of law:

Re: Trump's trial attorneys 

To whom it concerns:

During the recent trial before Judge Merchan, Trump's attorneys displayed a shocking level of mendacity, and also a shocking contempt for the court and the rule of law. Given that, it is reasonable to expect that disciplinary hearings for those attorneys will be held. 

As you know, American democracy, civil liberties and the rule of law are now all under a severe, sustained attack from America's powerful radical right authoritarian wealth and power political movement. Holding attorneys who fight on the side of authoritarianism by violating ethics rules and/or laws must be investigated and punished if their behavior warrants punishment. Anything less constitutes unjustifiable capitulation to authoritarianism.

Thank you for your time and consideration.

One can hope that the NYSBA is empowered to do an investigation for New York state ethics violations. If not, someone would have to file a formal complaint.