A judge in Arizona has ordered the state’s Republican Party and their lawyers to pay $18k in legal fees for filing a “groundless” election related lawsuit last year to challenge President Biden’s election victory in the state.
Judge John Hannah concluded that the Arizona Republican Party brought a groundless legal claim to court for political reasons, claiming that it was done to protect election integrity, and failed to recognize it had sued the wrong government official, the Associated Press reported.
The state GOP, tried to establish a new audit of a sampling of ballots. Republicans argue that the suit was to determine whether voting machines were hacked, but Secretary of State Katie Hobbs (D) argued that the legal action was a “delay tactic” to undermine the certification of the election results.
Arizona law allows a judge to assess attorney fees against lawyers or legal parties who bring claims to court without substantial justification or to delay or harass, AP reports.
Judge Hannah wrote that the state GOP knew they brought their case for improper reasons when they said it was motivated by ‘public mistrust after the election.’
‘Public mistrust’ is a political issue, not a legal or factual basis for litigation,” the judge wrote.
Jack Wilenchik, one of the lawyers for the state Republican Party, issued a statement saying the decision would be appealed, and that the judge’s ruling that public mistrust in an election is an “improper purpose” for the suit is “sorely disrespectful to the views of the many Americans whom I am proud to represent,” the AP reported.
In total, eight election lawsuits were filed in Arizona. They were all unsuccessful.
As AP noted, no evidence of fraud or hacking of voting machines were found in the election in Arizona.
