Judge sanctions legal team for Kari Lake and Mark Finchem
Attorneys for two failed Arizona Republican candidates have been sanctioned by a federal judge for what he said was a series of factual and legal problems in a lawsuit against Arizona election officials.
The original lawsuit was filed in April by attorneys for gubernatorial hopeful Kari Lake and secretary of state candidate Mark Finchem.
The suit seeking to block electronic voting machines was tossed in August, and Maricopa County asked for sanctions on the grounds that attorneys brought claims to court that were demonstrably false. Among them were “vague” allegations that machine counting can produce inaccurate results.
In the ruling this week, U.S District Judge John Tuchi said the court will not condone litigants furthering false narratives that undermine public trust and that financial penalties are appropriate.
Tuchi ordered Lake and Finchem’s lawyers to pay Maricopa County’s attorneys fees, the amount of which has yet to be determined.
