Kari Lake and Mark Finchem’s attorneys in the pre-election lawsuit have explained to the judge why he should reduce the $141,000 in sanctions to Maricopa County taxpayers, or let him (Dershowitz) out of the penalty.
After previously dismissing the case with a scathing Order, U.S. District Judge John Tuchi ruled in favor of Maricopa County’s request for sanctions. He told Plaintiffs’ attorneys they could only respond about the appropriateness of the amount requested by the County.
As Arizona’s Law’s readers know, the nationally-known Alan Dershowitz was part of Lake and Finchem’s legal team*. He filed a separate Response last night, as well as asking the Court to make Maricopa County prove why he should be on the hook for the sanctions.
Dershowitz – separately represented by Phoenix attorneys Dennis and Jack Wilenchik – argues that he was only retained by MyPillow’s Mike Lindell to be “a consultant to Mr. Lindell’s primary legal team on First Amendment and related constitutional issues.” Dershowitz specifically developed the argument that there is a constitutional issue when a government retains a private company to help with elections, but then shields details on grounds of business secrets.
The filing also points out that Dershowitz is a “liberal Democrat who has almost never voted for a Republican candidate,” and that he never challenged the results of the 2020 elections (including in Arizona).
(Dershowitz had had an opportunity to make the “I’m just an of counsel consultant” argument when Maricopa County first requested sanctions months ago. It is not yet clear whether the judge will listen to that now.)
The other attorneys followed Judge Tuchi’s Order and focused on the time entries produced by Maricopa County’s in-house and outside counsel. They did not ask for a specific reduction, but left that determination for the judge. (Judges love going through time entries. <sarcasm>)
(This is one of several active cases in which Finchem, Lake, attorneys and others opposing Arizona election laws and outcomes may be sanctioned. Here is our periodically-updated Sanctions Scoreboard.)
Next up: Judge Tuchi will approve or deny Dershowitz’s request to make Maricopa County argue why the 84-year old attorney with medical conditions should be held jointly responsible. Tuchi will also rule on the appropriateness of Maricopa County’s $141,000 application.
*He had some difficulty getting his application to join the team in Arizona court filed.