Democratic elections lawyer Marc Elias has served as the unofficial legal explainer on Twitter as President Donald Trump's attorneys made their way through dozens of frivolous lawsuits. In a scathing editorial, Elias demanded that there should be some steps put in place to protect democracy in the future.
First, he argued that any election lawsuit should be required to state whether or not they claim fraud. In the case of Trump's lawyers, cases of fraud had to be backed up by evidence. When they were unable to find any, they were forced to admit to judges in court, on the record, that their suits didn't allege fraud. That was only for the cases that were allowed to appear before a judge. The U.S. Supreme Court wouldn't even listen to the Trump legal team.
What Elias found to be the most disturbing was that 18 Republican state attorneys general added themselves to the Texas lawsuit against Georgia, Michigan, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin. It seemed that Texas AG Ken Paxton, who is under criminal investigation again, was looking for a pardon. What was the excuse of the 18 AGs who joined him?
"They were joined by more than half of the Republican members of the House of Representatives—126 in all—all signing onto the proposition that four states' elections should be entirely discarded," Elias wrote. "Strikingly, several of the signatures on that brief were from Members seeking to disenfranchise their own voters and cast their own elections into doubt."
The High Court rejected the efforts and "this time," he said "our institutions held."
He explained there was never a chance that Trump would succeed. The numbers simply aren't there, the Trump loyalists don't run the governments in the states, with the exception of Georgia. Ultimately, no judge in the court was willing to risk their career for the president, even if he appointed them.
"But what if it were closer, the legal claims and team more polished and the Congress unified in support of that candidate?" asked Elias. "Trumpism has taught us that, for our democracy to survive, we cannot allow ourselves to be exposed to public evils from private vices. This means hardening our institutions of democracy and making them more explicit. This will need to take many forms, but we must start with those that force our nation's leaders to do better."
Elias' second demand is that state bar associations "should promulgate specific rules of ethical conduct aimed at anti-democratic efforts."
For disgraced lawyers like Lin Wood, Sidney Powell, Rudy Giuliani and Jenna Ellis, there should be consequences for turning the judiciary into a farce.
His final suggestion is that the House and Senate should strengthen their own rules to ensure elected federal officials can't undermine democracy. The 126 Republican House members who signed onto the lawsuit violated their oath of office by trying to steal an election from the clear winner.
"Members should also be cautioned from making statements, outside of official channels, casting doubt on the validity of an election other than one for a seat in their own chamber," wrote Elias.
Read his full column at Democracy Docket.
