Professor Bruce Green shared his expert opinion with The Washington Post on the likelihood that President Trump’s lawyers would be punished for filing lawsuits deemed frivolous.
President Trump’s legal team is entering into what might be its most desperate election challenge yet — and given its overwhelmingly failed past efforts, that’s saying something. Its move to join in the attempts by Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton (R) to have the Supreme Court overturn the results in four key states has been ridiculed even by some top Republicans.
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Fordham University’s Bruce Green agreed that it was unlikely the lawyers would be punished. He noted that the defendants in the cases — the state and local elections officials — have declined to press for such sanctions. Judges could still issue sanctions to the lawyers of their own volition, but defendants could certainly press the issue, and they haven’t.
Green suggested that was because they are merely happy with their continued resounding and unequivocal victories, which could speak for themselves. What’s more, he noted that proving a lawyer purposefully brought a frivolous case — or that it was based on false claims — is difficult.
“Some lawyers who have observed the proceedings have filed disciplinary complaints against one or more of the lawyers who pressed the plaintiffs’ woefully inadequate election challenges,” Green noted. “But absent a referral by the judges overseeing the litigation, and absent proof that the plaintiffs’ lawyers knowingly used false evidence, the disciplinary authorities are unlikely to get involved.”