Supreme Court refuses to toss out fees for lawyers who sought hand count in Arizona election

The U. S. Supreme Court has declined to disturb an order requiring attorneys who filed a failed 2022 Arizona election suit to cover $122,000 in costs. Justices turned away a petition from Andrew D. Parker, a Minneapolis-based lawyer for Kari Lake, who wanted the justices to examine the penalty. The obligation falls on the lawyers, not on Lake or her co-plaintiff, state lawmaker Mark Finchem, according to ABC News.

The suit aimed to force a hand count of all ballots and to bar electronic tabulation equipment. A judge dismissed it, finding the plaintiffs had no standing and had sued too near the election. Both plaintiffs, Republicans who had promoted claims of fraud in the 2020 election, were defeated that year: Lake by Democrat Katie Hobbs for governor, and Finchem by Democrat Andrian Fontes in the secretary of state contest.

Maricopa County sought sanctions, and U. S. District Judge John Tuchi concluded the claims had no adequate factual basis, that required pre-filing research was skipped, and that the lawyers acted recklessly. The county said the attorneys ignored a letter flagging false statements, then leaned on some of them again, including that Arizona lacked paper ballots. Parker argued such penalties discourage bold legal theories.

Summarized by PolitiKool from ABC News’s reporting. Read the full story at ABC News →