The Supreme Court, through refusing to take the dispute up for consideration, has effectively upheld sanctions — meaning, in this case, financial penalties — on a pair of lawyers who brought a failed legal challenge after the 2020 presidential election.
“The lawsuit from late December 2020 was an attempt to create a class action challenge to the election on behalf of American voters, including eight named plaintiffs,” CNN has previously explained, discussing the original case that produced these financial consequences. Those who the presiding judge eventually ordered be provided financial compensation from the sanctioned lawyers include leaders in multiple states and businesses like Dominion Voting Systems, the election technology company that was named without basis in many pro-Trump conspiracy theories about the 2020 presidential election. The original amount in sanctions reached about $187,000, and the names of the affected lawyers are Gary D. Fielder and Ernest John Walker.
Before the Supreme Court’s decision, the sanctions had already been upheld by an appeals court.
Dana Nessel, currently the state attorney general in Michigan, expressed confidence in the continuance of the American democratic system on the occasion of the Supreme Court rebuffing the latest stage of the challenge to sanctions. “This ruling sends a resounding message: attorneys who neglected their oath to support the Constitution by taking part in election lawsuits based neither in fact nor reality not only undermined our legal system – they did irreparable harm to our election processes and will be held accountable,” Nessel said. “These sanctions affirm that although severe damage was done by these baseless lawsuits, the democratic foundation on which this country was built remains intact and the rule of law still prevails.”
Other attorneys tied to Trump’s election challenges have faced consequences as steep as criminal charges. A slew of such individuals were charged alongside Trump in Georgia on election interference allegations from Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis. Two of the charged pro-Trump attorneys are going to trial this month!
