Lawyers sanctioned for 'conspiracy theory' election fraud lawsuit
CNN
By Katelyn Polantz
(CNN)Lawyers who attempted a class action lawsuit claiming voter fraud in the 2020 election were sanctioned by a federal judge in Colorado on Wednesday for the frivolous, meritless case, a major condemnation of pro-Donald Trump allies' attempts to use the courts to vet right-wing conspiracies.
The attorneys -- Gary D. Fielder and Ernest John Walker -- that filed the election lawsuit in late December 2020 in Colorado federal court now must pay attorneys fees for Facebook, Dominion Voting Systems, the states of Michigan, Pennsylvania, Georgia and Wisconsin, and the non-profit Center for Tech and Civic Life, all of which were named as defendants in the lawsuit, Magistrate Judge N. Reid Neureiter ruled. Neureiter wrote a scathing 68-page opinion condemning the post-election lawsuit, calling it an "enormous conspiracy theory" and potentially defamatory. The lawsuit had no lawyers or experts that were able to support the claims, the judge noted.
The ruling on Wednesday marks the first major consequence in federal court to befall lawyers and litigants who pushed President Donald Trump's attempt to undermine the 2020 election result in court.