The Arizona Republican Party tried and failed to help ex-President Donald Trump steal the 2020 election-and now they get to shell out $18,000 for the pleasure.
Hannah stated in his order that the Arizona GOP had “made no serious pre-filing effort to determine the validity of” their claims, which were based on Trump’s lies about election fraud and vote counting machines.
If $18,000 is the only price for filing frivolous election lawsuits, expect to see the GOP file more of them every time they lose. Stronger sanctions are needed if the courts really want to stop these from occurring every 2-4 years.
Jack Wilenchik, one of the Arizona GOP’s lawyers in the case, told the Associated Press that the judge’s rejection of their “public mistrust” argument was “sorely disrespectful to the views of the many Americans whom I am proud to represent” and that the committee would be appealing the decision.
Play silly games, end up paying for said silly games. Take account for your actions AZ GOP, for once. And dude quit being a sore loser.
Now if we could just get them to charge Texas!
Or Mango Mussolini.
$18,000 is an awful cheap price for such a treacherous stunt.
I expect that those are just the legal fees. A sanction would be far more (and far more stinging).
“‘Public mistrust’ is a political issue, not a legal or factual basis for litigation,” Hannah wrote.
The judge also asserted that the state Republican party had acted in bad faith with its lawsuit.
“Arizona law gives political parties a privileged position in the electoral process on which our self-government depends. The public has a right to expect the Arizona Republican Party to conduct itself respectfully when it participates in that process,” he wrote. “It has failed to do so in this case.”
This is the accountability one wants to see in the judicial process.
Judge Hannah used to be a public defender. It shows.
When a judge treats your views with scathing disrespect, perhaps, maybe just perhaps, you should consider how respectable those views actually are.
It’s like someone trying to work themselves up to be eligible for a Dunning-Kreuger diagnosis.
They’re missing a few zeros on the end of that $18,000…
“public mistrust” argument was “sorely disrespectful to the views of the many Americans whom I am proud to represent”
Oh, yes? Who are all these Americans, besides the AZ GOP? And what is the nature of the relationship between you that establishes you as their sole representative on this issue?
The AZ GOP party lawyers assert the feelings or suspicions of citizens are reason enough to merit litigation. What if a faction of Arizona citizens “felt” there were ogres roaming the sewers of Phoenix and sued the city to eradicate them? Should the rest of the citizenry have to pick up the legal tab accrued in refusing to engage in such foolishness?
The zeroes were in court representing the plaintiff.
Who knew that “I’ve got a bad feeling about this” isn’t a legitimate cause of action?
Of course, if you can get your case to the supremes (and you’re white and rich) then your “sincerely held beliefs” do have the weight of factual evidence. They were just in front of the wrong court.
$18,000 was the cost of opposing the law suite. The actual cost of bringing the law suite was at least another $18,000. The question now, and I hope TPM reports either way, will the AZ GOP spend even more appealing the judges decision?
I mean does anyone really believe Jack Wilenchik, one of the Arizona GOP’s lawyers in the case or any other GOP lawyer is going to work for free?
Maybe I’m reading this wrong, but I took the judge’s statement to point out that
Hannah stated in his order that the Arizona GOP had “made no serious pre-filing effort to determine the validity of” their claims, which were based on Trump’s lies about election fraud and vote counting machines.
the bad faith was they didn’t present any credible evidence, which then made it impossible to take them seriously.
SCOTUS: Where owning the libs reaches its zenith.
Well yes the citizenry should pay to rid the Phoenix sewers from ogres, Alex Jones did a whole show on what they are doing to the infrastructure, and Tucker Carlson is extremely concerned for our welfare.
Ya think Jack Wilenchik was not paid by the GOP for his efforts or that he will be the one actually paying the $18,000. Rather, he will want the GOP to pay him more for appealing the decision. Jack will continue to lose and well it might make the GOP cry, Wilenchik will cry all the way to the bank.
Which brings up another point, at what point should GOP lawyers be sanctioned for presenting bad faith arguments to the courts by both judges and the appropriate bar associations?
