Marc Elias, ex-Clinton lawyer involved in Steele dossier, sanctioned by Texas court over 2020 election case
S E E D E D C O N T E N T
The Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals imposed sanctions against Perkins Coie partner Marc Elias and other attorneys representing Democrats in a case where they challenged a Texas election law going into the 2020 elections.
The case centers on a state law barring "straight ticket voting," a practice that had allowed voters to automatically vote for every member of a particular party who is on the ballot by marking a single box instead of voting for each one individually. On Feb. 10, Elias and other attorneys filed a motion to supplement the record in the case, without mentioning that they had already filed what the court called a "nearly identical" motion in September 2020 that had been denied.
"This inexplicable failure to disclose the earlier denial of their motion violated their duty of candor to the court," the Fifth Circuit said in an order dated March 11. The court went on to say that "[s]anctions are warranted in this case to deter future violations."
Those sanctions include paying "reasonable attorney's fees and court costs" that the other side incurred related to the February motion, as well as "double costs." The court said that the attorneys are also "encouraged" to review the applicable section of the Model Rules of Professional Conduct, and to go through one hour of Continuing Legal Education related to ethics and professionalism, "specifically candor with the court."
Perkins Coie stood by their attorneys in the face of the sanctions.
"We do not normally respond to requests for comment on pending litigation, but the Firm and the attorneys involved in this matter strongly disagree with the Appellate Court's ruling and its order of sanctions in this case," a firm spokesperson said in a statement to Fox News. "The Firm fully and completely supports our attorneys in this case."
Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton celebrated the court's ruling, saying in a statement that "Perkins Coie cannot continue to mislead the Court, especially in a matter as important as election integrity."
The case was brought on behalf of plaintiffs including the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee (DSCC), the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee (DCCC), and the Texas Alliance for Retired Americans. Their position included the argument that prohibiting straight ticket voting would result in longer wait times to vote, which could harm lower-income and minority voters who lack the job flexibility to take the time wait.
Before the November election, a lower court had granted their request for a preliminary injunction, only for the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals to issue a stay on that ruling pending appeal.
Perkins Coie - and Elias in particular - has represented Democratic organizations in several cases in which they challenged election laws in several states ahead of 2020's election. According to Law.com, the firm billed the DSCC, DCCC and the Democratic National Committee a total of $27 million, more than double what they charged them and Hillary Clinton's campaign in 2016.
Elias and Perkins Coie drew notoriety for their involvement with the DNC and Clinton's 2016 campaign for their role in hiring research firm Fusion GPS, who in turn hired former British spy Christopher Steele to conduct opposition research that produced the infamous dossier on alleged Trump campaign ties to Russia.
A Justice Department Inspector General's investigation found that the Steele dossier was instrumental in the FBI's application for a warrant to conduct surveillance of former Trump campaign adviser Carter Page in the early months of their Russia investigation. The FBI has never verified the contents of the dossier, and they failed to tell the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court that Steele's sub-source said the information was not reliable.
Elias is currently assisting the effort to overturn the result of a congressional race in Iowa, where Republican Rep. Mariannette Miller-Meeks narrowly defeated Democrat Rita Hart by just six votes. The House Administration Committee voted to consider Hart's challenge.
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Democrats use various strategies to implement changes to voting laws in order to limit election integrity or make it more difficult for election overseers and observers to detect election fraud. One of the approaches is termed “sue and settle.”
Marc Elias, well known for his role in the Russia collusion hoax and other Democrat operations, runs the campaign to change voting laws and practices to favor Democrats. Perkins Coie billed the Democrat Party at least $27 million for its efforts to radically change voting laws ahead of the 2020 election, more than double what they charged Hillary Clinton and the Democratic National Committee for similar work in 2016. Elias was sanctioned in federal court just yesterday for some shenanigans related to a Texas election integrity case.
In March, Raffensberger voluntarily agreed to a settlement in federal court with various Democrat groups, which had sued the state over its rules for absentee voting. The end result was a dramatic alteration in how Georgia conducted the 2020 election.
Republicans were not party to the agreement, despite their huge interest in the case. The agreement explicitly states that neither Raffensberger nor the Democratic groups who sued him take a position on whether the laws and procedures being changed were constitutional or not.
Democrats’ high-powered attorneys introduced several significant changes, such as the opportunity to “cure” ballots. That means that when an absentee problem comes in with problems that would typically lead it to be trashed, the voter is instead given a chance to “cure” or correct the ballot. It also said Democrats would offer training and guidance on signature verification to county registrars and absentee ballot clerks.
Most importantly, the settlement got rid of any meaningful signature match. The law had previously required signatures to match the signature on file with the Georgia voter registration database. But the settlement allowed the signature to match any signature on file, including the one on the absentee ballot application. That meant a fraudulently obtained ballot would easily have a signature match and no way to detect fraud.
The ballot also could only be rejected if a majority of registrars, deputy registrars, and ballot clerks agreed to it, another burden that made it easier to just let all ballots through without scrutiny. It made a huge difference in how many ballots were rejected.
Raffensberger’s decision to voluntarily agree to such a dramatic change in the rules of the game without input from the Republican Party of Georgia, much less the Republican National Committee, angered many Republicans, including Sens. Kelly Loeffler and David Perdue , as they learned about it following the November 2020 election. Other Republicans felt he harmed election integrity by mailing out millions of absentee ballots , ostensibly because of health concerns related to COVID-19.
cancel culture! cancel culture!
Who cares what the Federalist has to say on the subject?
We can't follow Democrat dogma; not matter how much they or their sheeple try to force us.
But you can follow right wing conspiracy theories and lies???
You cared enough to comment.
Of course I highly doubt you bothered to read the post or the linked article it is from.
You left out 'leftist brown shirts' in your comment.
Says the person that uses Vanity Fair as a source.
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Really? The GOP sanctioning people is off topic and no value?
If that is the case than this article must also be removed for being off topic and no value.
Someone mentioned that a lot of these 'articles' looked like drive-by shootings!!!!!!!!!!!!!
The FBI has never verified the contents of the dossier, and they failed to tell the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court that Steele's sub-source said the information was not reliable.
Perkins Cole is always involved when shady stuff is going down.