It's either chaos or comedy in a Michigan courtroom, today, as Trump attorneys Sidney Powell and Lin Wood face disbarrment for their actions related to the 2020 election. Raw Story↱ hits with a tempting headline, "Lawyers for Lin Wood and Sidney Powell try to get them out of trouble by claiming they were too dumb to know better", and while that might, colloquially, sound about right, it turns out to be only the slightest of exaggerations; nobody actually came right out and said, "too dumb to know better". What the defense appears to have argued is that, not being statisticians, Powell and Wood could not know that a claim about a vote tally had already been answered. Attorney David Fink, on behalf of the state, replied, "All it took was 30 seconds for me to look on the internet to find the answer". Powell and Wood's lawyers claimed that those lawyers "are not statisticians," and that they wrote in the court filing that they were citing a report of over 100 percent voters. Fink argued that they have due diligence as lawyers in the court to confirm what they put in their filings. Powell and Wood's lawyer explained that they were correctly citing the "report" that said it was over 100 percent and that they didn't have the statistical knowledge to know better. Fink went on to say that everyone seemed to be blaming everyone else in the case, but that they have a duty under the Michigan court rules not to make false statements in court. In a running thread, reporter Jan Wolfe↱ notes the judge explaining, "The court is concerned these affidavits were submitted in bad faith." Reporter Andrew Feinberg tweets, "[Julia] Haller, one of the Kraken lawyers, is crying." High drama, to be certain, but at some point the underlying dark comedy needs to be dragged out into the sunlight. But the pretense stands out: An attorney not competent enough to perform such basic due diligence? Maybe so, but if we wonder why Haller is crying, it's because the excuse for not being a criminal is that they are not competent to be attorneys. In a question of bad faith, not knowing something obvious is a cheap and easy excuse for internet trolls; for attorneys, though, good faith is one of the most important stars in the firmament, for there is no justice without it. ____________________ Notes: @AndrewFeinberg. "Haller, one of the Kraken lawyers, is crying." (thread) Twitter. 12 July 2021. Twitter.com. 12 July 2021. https://bit.ly/2UF6j2a @JanNWolfe. "Developing: A judge is dropping major hints that she plans to discipline Sidney Powell and her co-counsel over documents they submitted in their Michigan lawsuit. Judge: 'The court is concerned these affidavits were submitted in bad faith. For this reason, I have questions...'". Twitter. 12 July 2021. Twitter.om. 12 July 2021. https://bit.ly/3yOuv0B Burris, Sarah K. "Lawyers for Lin Wood and Sidney Powell try to get them out of trouble by claiming they were too dumb to know better". Raw Story. 12 July 2021. RawStory.com. 12 July 2021. https://bit.ly/3wEBdou
Brief note: Raffi Melkonian (@RMFifthCircuit)↱ covered the hearing in a Twitter thread that is as near to must-read as it is unbelievable. There are, however, two↱ tweets↱ to include here, from late in the thread: I want to note: there was not a word I heard in the hearing (I was off for a while) where a single one of these people apologized for their conduct. They could have said, "we were proceeding in good faith, but we understand it went off the rails." That's not a good answer, but it's something you can see in the face of such a situation. You can ask for forgiveness. You can explain how you ended up in this mess. None of that. Just - everything we did was fine. So be it. There are ways in which that feels emblematic. Uncertain, at this time, is the schedule for the ruling, but Melkonian is expecting↱ a sanctions order. ____________________ Notes: @RMFifthCircuit. "I'm also listening." (thread) Twitter. 12 July 2021. Twitter.com. 12 July 2021. https://bit.ly/3yQNibO
Historic and Profound Abuse of the Judicial Process If I am remiss, well, it is easy enough on this count. So, I happened to be busy when running across a headline, nearly a month old, from for Above the Law that runs, "Detroit Flays Kraken Lawyers In Newest Sanctions Filing"↱. It's fun reading, but it became obsolete before I could figure a post, because today also happens to be the day that we heard back from the court. To summarize, per Joseph Levy↱: Judge Parker has sanctioned the Kraken attorneys for their election litigation challenge. She has ordered them to pay the State and City’s fees, to take legal education courses, and has referred the matter for potential suspension or disbarment. Say, ouch. Or, as Judge Linda V. Parker↱ opens her Opinion and Order, "This lawsuit represents a historic and profound abuse of the judicial process", and accuses complainant attorneys in King v. Whitmer of "deceiving a federal court … without regard to whether any laws or rights were violated". ____________________ Notes: @j_sephlevy. "Breaking News: Judge Parker has sanctioned the Kraken attorneys for their election litigation challenge. She has ordered them to pay the State and City’s fees, to take legal education courses, and has referred the matter for potential suspension or disbarment." Twitter. 25 August 2021. Twitter.com. 25 Agust 2021. https://bit.ly/2Wr5f2T Dye, Elizabeth. "Detroit Flays Kraken Lawyers In Newest Sanctions Filing". Above the Law. 29 July 2021. AboveTheLaw.com. 25 August 2021. https://bit.ly/3sO3HMd Parker, Linda V. "Opinion and Order". King et al. v. Whitmer et al. United States District Court Eastern District of Michigan Southern Division. 25 August 2021. Storage.CourtListener.com. 25 August 2021. https://bit.ly/2WrXI3t
