That is the conclusion of U.S. District Judge Linda V. Parker in her 110-page decision last week imposing sanctions on nine lawyers for attempting to deceive the court and the public into believing that the 2020 presidential election was fraudulent and that for that reason, 5.5 million Michigan voters should be disenfranchised. After a lengthy hearing, Judge Parker sanctioned the nine lawyers—Sidney Powell, L. Lin Wood, Emily Newman, Julia Z. Haller, Brandon Johnson, Scott Hagerstrom, Howard Kleinhendler, Gregory Rohl and Stephanie Lynn Juntila—for abusing the judicial process. Judge Parker found that the attorneys brought the election lawsuit in bad faith, advanced claims that they knew or should have known were false, and failed to make diligent efforts to determine whether their allegations had merit. "This case was never about fraud," Judge Parker wrote. "It was about undermining the People's faith in our democracy and debasing the judicial process to do so."

For their professional misconduct, Judge Parker ordered the lawyers to pay the reasonable costs and fees incurred by their adversaries to defend the action and to take mandatory continuing legal education classes on pleading standards and election law, and referred the lawyers to the appropriate disciplinary authorities for possible suspension or disbarment.

The lawyers' 900-page complaint contained affidavits of witnesses, bizarre statistical data from purported experts, and hundreds of cut-and-pasted exhibits from other previously litigated cases with essentially the same claims. But despite the ponderous pleadings, the allegations of fraud and manipulation of votes lacked evidence. As Judge Parker observed, the allegations "were based on nothing more than belief, conjecture, and speculation rather than fact." Judge Parker noted that although individuals have a constitutional right to disseminate false information in the public sphere, attorneys engaged in litigation do not have the same privilege. In the context of courtroom proceedings, "an attorney retains no personal First Amendment rights," citing Gentile v. State Bar of Nevada, 501 U.S. 1030, 1071 (1991). Judge Parker also held that when attorneys scorn their oath, flout the rules, and attempt to undermine the integrity of the judicial process, they need to be sanctioned.