BELLOWS FALLS — I thought I'd be content to know that Joe Biden and Kamala Harris had been elected as president and vice president, respectively.
While I am extraordinarily happy that they have done so, the Republican whining is getting tiresome - not that their guy lost, but the unfounded attacks on our system of voting.
Despite loud cries of “fraud,” “dead people voted,” “the election was stolen,” etc., they have a lousy track record in court. Other than one minor procedural ruling over poll watching, they have now lost more than 40 lawsuits attempting to reverse the outcome in several states and multiple jurisdictions, both state and federal.
As a lawyer, I appreciate that some lawsuits are like tilting at windmills and you have to do them as a matter of principle. But you have to have at least some modicum of grounds to file a lawsuit or the basis to try and convince a court that you have a new legal theory that deserves to become the law. I've had a couple of those that were successful.
In Donald Trump's case, his lawyers (the ones who have not already “fired” him as a client) have been spectacularly unsuccessful with their claims. Judges, in many cases Republican-leaning ones and a number who have been appointed by Trump, have not just dismissed the cases, they have done so with a degree of opprobrium not often seen in litigation.
In case after case, courts have found that the claims had no basis in law or in fact. It is a wonder that some court has not filed an ethics complaint against the lawyers who have filed the most egregious claims, and it may only be a matter of time before one does. These attorneys are wasting precious judicial resources by taking up valuable court time.
In law school, we often heard, “If you have the law on your side, hammer on the law. If you have the facts on your side, hammer on the facts. If you don't have either the law or the facts on your side, hammer on the table.”
Trump's lawyers are at that point: hammering on the counsel tables in the halls of justice. It is the legal equivalent of a temper tantrum being thrown by the proven bully who can't believe that he is a loser.