Over 1,200 prominent lawyers from across the country have signed an open letter calling for an end to baseless claims that by the Trump campaign that the 2020 presidential election was fraudulent as part of Trump’s desperate attempt to overturn the decisive vote of the American people.
The letter, organized by the nonpartisan Lawyers Defending American Democracy, also calls on courts to hold the lawyers making the false claims accountable to the oath they swear to uphold the Constitution and honestly discharge their duties.
“A lawyer’s oath is a sacred vow,” the letter states. “Americans have a right to expect, and courts must require, that those who undermine the Constitution by perpetuating false allegations to prevent citizens from having their vote counted – effectively denying them the right to vote – be held to account.”
The Center for Media and Democracy’s President, Lisa Graves, and Executive Director, Arn Pearson, joined with attorneys from “all regions of America, representing a myriad of political and ideological backgrounds” to sign on to the letter.
“It is still shocking to witness so many of Trump’s lawyers misleading the courts and their fellow Americans with demonstrably false claims of widespread voter fraud,” Graves said. “And it is wrong, morally as well as under the ethical rules that govern the legal profession. To engage in such lies, which have been used to raise millions to enrich Trump’s leadership PAC and the RNC, while attempting to subvert the legitimacy and the results of this election is reprehensible.”
“Knowingly making false claims in court submissions as part of a scheme to delay vote certifications and enable GOP-controlled legislatures to seat pro-Trump electors against the will of the voters is profoundly unethical and poses a direct threat to our democracy,” Pearson said.
“Every candidate has a right to ensure that an election is conducted lawfully. However, court challenges, if any, must be based on facts, on evidence. These principles are fundamental to securing every citizen’s right to vote and to our democracy,” the letter states.
“If ever there were a time for the nation’s bar associations to speak out for the rule of law, it is now,” writes Lauren Stiller Rikleen in The National Law Journal. “This is neither about politics nor partisanship. It is about the ability to keep our republic, as Benjamin Franklin challenged following the Constitutional Convention of 1787.”
The full letter is available here with signatures and below.
Open Letter Seeking Accountability for False Claims Of Fraudulent Election
We, the undersigned, are attorneys from all regions of America, representing a myriad of political and ideological backgrounds. We join in this letter to demand that public office holders and lawyers uphold their oath to defend the Constitution. To do that, they must cease making false or unfounded claims and implementing actions – including those actions taken by Attorney General William Barr on November 9 – that undermine our presidential election process.
The right to a fair and free election is sacred in this country. As the Supreme Court has written: “The right to vote freely for the candidate of one’s choice is of the essence of a democratic society, and any restriction on that right strikes at the heart of democratic government . . . [A]ny alleged infringement of the right of citizens to vote must be carefully and meticulously scrutinized.” Reynolds v. Sims, 377 U.S. 533, 555 (1964).
Every candidate has a right to ensure that an election is conducted lawfully. However, court challenges, if any, must be based on facts, on evidence. These principles are fundamental to securing every citizen’s right to vote and to our democracy.
The President of the United States has directed the filing of court cases seeking to stop ballots from being counted on the ground that there has been widespread ballot fraud. His sons have sharply criticized Republicans who are not backing their father’s claims. Following these comments, Senators Ted Cruz and Lindsey Graham, both attorneys, and House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy participated in interviews where they echoed the President’s allegations of fraud.
But these claims of widespread fraud are without evidence and false. As preeminent Republican election lawyer Benjamin Ginsberg recently wrote, though Republicans have spent more than thirty years searching for evidence, “Proof of systematic fraud . . . doesn’t exist.”
Stopping the counting of eligible ballots would effectively nullify those citizens’ fundamental right to vote. Since there is no factual basis – no evidence – to support President Trump’s claim of widespread fraud, his actions grossly interfere with the right to vote and cannot withstand any scrutiny, let alone the “careful[] and meticulous scrutin[y]” demanded by the Supreme Court.
In effect, the President seeks an unconstitutional “restriction on the right to vote” under Reynolds v. Sims. He is violating his duty to defend the Constitution.
The United States Constitution requires the President to take an oath to “preserve, protect and defend the Constitution”, Art. II, Sect. 1, Cl. 8. Federal law requires all other federal office holders to take an oath to “support and defend the Constitution”. 5 U.S.C. 3331. Lawyers take a similar oath.
Lawyers who represent the President, or his campaign, in challenges to this election – like all lawyers who appear in court – have an ethical obligation of candor to the court. As embodied in the American Bar Association’s Model Rules of Professional Conduct 3.3, “the lawyer must not allow the tribunal to be misled by false statements of … fact or evidence that the lawyer knows to be false.”
This duty applies fully to Justice Department employees who respond with legal action to Attorney General Barr’s November 9 precedent-breaking memo authorizing investigations of election fraud during the immediate, post-election period. This latest action only adds to the Attorney General’s shameful legacy.
A lawyer’s oath is a sacred vow. Americans have a right to expect, and courts must require, that those who undermine the Constitution by perpetuating false allegations to prevent citizens from having their vote counted – effectively denying them the right to vote – be held to account.
This unprecedented moment transcends partisanship. The country and the world are watching to see how America responds to the President’s shameful attack on the legitimacy of America’s voting process.
There has never been a more important time for America’s lawyers to acknowledge the importance of these solemn commitments, and to demand accountability for those lawyers and federal officials who do not live up to their oaths and ethical obligations.
Photo credit: Tia Dufour
Add another lawyer’s name to the list:
Lawyers who file frivolous cases should be disbarred
and be to pay their adversaries attorneys fees.
William F. Chinnock, Esq.
Ohio Supreme Court #10762
Finally!!
Over the last four years I have seen crime after crime by Trump and his administration and enablers, many lawyers, go unaddressed with the help os a corrupt Republican Senate, also mostly lawyers. “Don’t these people take an oath?” I asked. I was enraged to find it very similat to the one I took when I went into the military, “protect and defend the Constitution against ALL enemies, foreign and DOMESTIC.” Only TWO Republicans in the Senate stood up and treading lightly only because they have ambitions to be president themselves. They wanted to appear rational. I was beginning to lose all hope for the country surviving both Republican sedition and a Republican enhanced viral plague. I am now regaining some hope by reading this open letter from hundreds of reputable attorneys. As I write this 13,450,712 citizens are dead because of these misanthropes. They need to be held accountable, not forgiven.
I truly believe Trump really believes the lies he is telling is the way he sees it and if this is presidential actions something has seriously gone wrong with America and what it stands for.
Rather than make spurious comments about the baseless claims of election fraud, why don’t the lawyers produce their objective, concrete and forensic scientific evidence that voter fraud did not occur? As lawyers, they should know that the determination of such claims are made by the courts and not randomly by a group of unknown lawyers who call themselves Lawyers Defending American Democracy. This is a form of “fact checking” by self-proclaimed fact checkers who have no legal nor scientific responsibility to be accurate. Who checks the “fact checkers” and who checks the Lawyers Defending American Democracy? Did CMD independently check the claims of the lawyers and would they swear to a specific statement that the claims were accurate? If not, why not and why should I believe a generalized story based not on objective, concrete and forensic scientific evidence but on the same baseless, hearsay claims that the LDAD and CMD is accusing Trump for making? What makes their baseless claims acceptable and Trump’s not acceptable? It appears that the LDAD and CMD are simply anti-Trump and joining the anti-Trump chorus with baseless accusations like all left-wing SJW crackpot bullies and political thugs.
As a historian of American history, election fraud has occurred since the first election in the US. If those LADA lawyers and the CMD ever read a history book or did research, they would know that. As a community activist, who has participated in local elections, I have seen election fraud on local levels. If the claims are baseless, then provide hard, forensic evidence that they are baseless. May be the LDAD lawyers should be held accountable to the same standards that they are proposing for everybody else?
Finally the legal profession is finding voice. What has happened is outrageous. And I believe its purpose is to keep chaos alive and influece the outcome of the January 2021 Senate run-off elections in Georgia. This is reprehensible. Attorneys aiding and abetting such behavior must be investigated and their status in the legal community reflect any actions taken against them..
Thank You
These lawyers should disbarred from practicing law. They are a disgrace to the profession.
Judges are far too lenient and should not tolerated these claims. Calling the election fradulent because the POTUS claims it to be is damaging to the country. It is more treasonous than his holding back military aid to the Ukraine. The GOP has been complicit and should be held accountable by the voters. All the more reason the senate race in Georgia is so critical.
Excellent that you shared this letter from a group representing the diverse personal politics of the lawyers signing. Yesterday I read in CLG (https://www.legitgov.org) a list of reportage of numerous claims of massive election fraud. It is clearly an attempt to tie up the certification of the election in at least 5 States that have already agreed to certify. The claims are spectacular citing 100’s of 1000’s of votes either tossed or artificially submitted for counting. it is clear that Trump not only seeks a win but a major landslide and needs to validate his delusion of grand popularity. I would love to see the lawyers who participate get put on the chopping block and have their licenses revoked or at least suspended for a significant amount of time. Playing hardball needs to be seen as different than pure deceit and fraud.
I hope you folks also took a stand against the BASELESS CLAIMS made against President Trump non-stop for four years by the Democrats. Otherwise, your “non-partisan” claims are a bunch of bullshit.