Kari Lake's ‘frivolous’ election lawsuit triggers $122K fine: report

A federal judge on Friday ordered failed gubernatorial candidate Kari Lake, along with her attorney Alan Dershowitz and fellow right-wing fringe candidate Mark Finchem, to pay a $122,000 fine for their pursuit of a “frivolous” lawsuit to overturn the 2022 election, The Messenger reports.

Lake has filed multiple lawsuits in connection with the 2022 election, of which one lists Finchem, a member of the extremist Oath Keepers who lost his bid to become Arizona’s Secretary of State, as a co-plaintiff, the report said.

Adam Klasfeld writes for The Messenger that, “After Lake and Finchem’s lawsuits failed, the fallout over their efforts began.”

Klasfeld notes that a federal judge in December described the allegations that were the basis for lawsuits filed by Lake, Finchem and Dershowitz as “false, misleading and unsupported.”

Dershowitz has since distanced himself from Lake’s lawsuits, according to the report, noting that the former Harvard professor claimed he isn’t an election denier but that his signature appears on the complaint in connection with a narrow constitutional issue.

U.S. District Judge John J. Tuchi reduced Dershowitz’s fine but didn’t completely buy the former O.J. Simpson lawyer’s argument.

“Mr. Dershowitz’s involvement in this case was indeed limited and he made an effort — albeit a misguided one — to communicate his limited role,” Tuchi’s ruling states.

“He did so apparently after discussing the issue with other attorneys and scholars. He therefore claims, with some credibility, to have committed nothing more than an ‘honest mistake.’”

Read the full article here.