The group asked the DC District Court to stop the Electoral College and Congress from confirming Biden’s victory. District Judge James Boasberg rejected their requests in full, calling them a ‘fundamental and obvious misreading of the Constitution’ and ‘the undermining of a democratic election for President of the United States’.
“Courts are not instruments by which parties exercise such playfulness or symbolic political gestures,” Boasberg wrote.
“As a result, at the end of this case,” he added, “the court will determine whether an order will be issued as to why this matter should not be referred to the Committee on Grievances for possible discipline of the lawyers. of the plaintiffs. “
Plaintiffs’ attorney Erick Kaardal did not respond to CNN’s requests for comment.
Trump and his allies have lost about 50 lawsuits they have filed since the election, while many unsubstantiated theories of possible fraud are trying to cast millions of legitimate votes and overthrow Biden’s victory so that Trump can remain in office.
Although judges sharply rejected the efforts, few have taken tangible steps to look at attorneys’ possible misconduct and errors in the lawsuit and whether they have fulfilled their ethical obligations as attorneys.
Federal judges have the power to hold people who appear before them in contempt in extraordinary situations, and state bar associations also regulate licenses for the practice.
Elaine Block, a lawyer specializing in legal ethics and a deputy professor at the Georgetown Law Center, told CNN that ‘at some point a judge will be a judge in court after the court of your arguments, it is clear that your arguments have no basis and that is the definition of what it means to have a frivolous lawsuit that has more or less no reasonable chance of success. ‘
Block calls it surprising and disappointing that ‘people who need to know the rules of professional conduct and the rules that determine whether a lawsuit can proceed, that the people just serve and are willing to file and after one after another frivolous lawsuit to stand. “
Tom Mason, a partner of Harris Wiltshire and Grannis in his group on legal ethics and malpractices, stressed that Boasberg’s potential professional discipline is by no means a confirmation of misconduct.
“What this court is saying is, ‘I’m going to think about it, and what I’m going to think about is whether I’m giving an order to give rise, or whether this case should be referred to a committee for investigation,’ ‘Mason said. “It is therefore a number of steps between this statement to any determination that any of the attorneys acted in any way that is inconsistent with their professional obligations.”
Mason continues: “People are entitled to explore the limits of the law to make new law, so not every attempt that people think is new or (without precedent) is something punishable. Hopefully not, because the law is “something that lives and breathes and moves around. We need people to move to the borders to see where the law should develop.”
Attorney Page Pate said it was an unusual response in a lawsuit for a judge to refer an attorney for possible discipline. But the district court ruling in DC has left judges who find a lawsuit frivolous – that the lawyers had no evidence to substantiate it or no solid legal theory behind it – to sue lawyers directly for sanctions from the court or the court where the lawyer is, to admit, he said.
While a potentially frivolous lawsuit did not seem to lead to disillusionment, Pate said: “You can certainly see sanctions under it, as we would call a public reprimand, where the State Bar says, ‘You did something wrong. , do not do it again. ‘And the reprimand will be part of the lawyer’s public file and permanent file. But that depends on the bar committee. ‘
“It’s your license to make a living, and at some point Trump will probably be gone sooner rather than later,” Pate continued. “And if the lawyer wants to continue to uphold his or her practice in a particular court, you have to follow the court rules.”
Block added that “I think the threat of serious discipline will discourage lawyers from continuing,” but noted that “President Trump seems to have an extraordinary ability to get what he wants and to get the people who work for him. to influence, so I do not know. ‘