Lawyers for former Arizona Republican gubernatorial candidate Kari Lake and former Arizona congressman Mark Finchem have filed a lawsuit against the federal district court alleging that Arizona committed fraud ahead of the 2022 midterm elections. A judge ordered him to pay $122,000 in Maricopa County attorney fees. Do not use paper ballots.
In their lawsuit, Lake and Finchem asked the court to ban the use of “electronic voting machines” in the 2022 midterm elections and require all ballots to be counted by hand. But U.S. District Judge John Tuci ruled their lawsuit was without merit and issued a court order Friday charging them with making false claims that Arizona doesn't use paper ballots. rejected the claim and imposed sanctions.
The court order requires lawyer Alan Dershowitz to pay a portion of the fine (totaling $12,220) for trying to evade sanctions, and he is also required to pay a portion of the fine, totaling $12,220. He said he would “bear joint and several responsibility” with other lawyers. hoodie. The attorneys plan to pay the money to Maricopa County within 30 days starting Friday.
Tuci dismissed the lawsuit in August, saying it was full of “speculative allegations of possible injury,” and that he and his attorney, Lake, are running for secretary of state in the midterm elections. However, it imposed sanctions on Mr. Finchem, a Republican candidate who supported Trump and lost the election.
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Lake's lawyers were also sanctioned in May by the Arizona Supreme Court, which ordered him to pay a $2,000 fine for repeating “patently false” claims in court about the 2022 election, NBC News reported at the time. .
Chief Justice Robert Brutinelle wrote in the court's ruling at the time that “campaigns and associated exaggerations can spill over into legal challenges. But once a contest enters the judicial arena, the rules of professional ethics apply. It will be done,” he wrote.
“We must ensure that legal sanctions are never used against candidates or their lawyers who advocate their legal rights in good faith, but we must also ensure that public trust in our judicial system and its truth-seeking capabilities rests on the backbone of our justice system. Certain ethical rules must also be diligently enforced. Our adjudication process is being unduly impeded,” Brutinel added.
Lake touted Donald Trump's unsubstantiated claims of 2020 election fraud, which affected the results of Arizona's November gubernatorial race, which he narrowly lost to Democrat Katie Hobbs by more than 17,000 votes. The legal challenge has attracted national attention. Since then, she refused to concede to her opponent and continued to advance her case in court, arguing that she should be the winner.
Republicans claim printer and tabulation machine problems in Maricopa County on Election Day prevented voters from casting ballots. Lake's lawsuit was decided by Maricopa County Judge Peter Thompson and the Arizona Court of Appeals, which said there was a lack of evidence that the problem was intentionally caused by election officials to disenfranchise Republican voters. It was rejected by both and faced a series of court defeats.
newsweek Kali Lake's press team was contacted for comment via email.
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