Federal Courts In Michigan And Georgia Slay The ‘Kraken’ Lawsuits

Donald Trump’s MAGA red caps, his version of Italian “black shirts” and German “brown shirts” fascist militias, threatened Michigan’s Secretary of State at her home over the weekend.

The Detroit Free Press reports, Protesters descend on Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson’s home after dark:

A couple of dozen MAGA red caps gathered in front of Michigan Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson’s home Saturday night shouting through megaphones against the certification of the election and demanding a forensic audit.

A portion of the demonstration was broadcast live on Facebook around 9:30 p.m. The protesters are seen walking up to Benson’s Detroit home, some wearing President Donald Trump paraphernalia and carrying American flags. [These anti-democratic crypto-fascist thugs disgrace the flag].

“We are over here in the fricking dead of night, man,” Genevieve Peters, who posted the live video, said as she walked to the house. “We are letting her know that we’re not taking this bullshit election, we are not standing down, we are not giving up you are not going to take this election from a man that has earned it completely 100% by a freaking landslide. Let me tell you: This ain’t over.”

The group then begins chanting, “Stop the steal” and “We want an audit,” touting signs displaying a stop sign that read, “Defend our liberty, stop the steal.”

Benson said the protesters gathered in front of her home as she and her 4-year-old son were finishing putting up Christmas decorations, just when the two were preparing to watch the Christmas classic, “How the Grinch Stole Christmas.”

The individuals gathered outside my home targeted me as Michigan’s Chief Election officer. But their threats were actually aimed at the 5.5million Michigan citizens who voted in this fall’s election, seeking to overturn their will. They will not succeed in doing so. My statement: pic.twitter.com/RSUnPSN4Aa

— Jocelyn Benson (@JocelynBenson) December 7, 2020

“I have always been an energetic advocate for the right and importance of peaceful protest as enshrined in the United States Constitution, however there is a line crossed when gatherings are done with the primary purpose of intimidation of public officials who are carrying out the oath of office they solemnly took as elected officials,” Benson said in a statement Sunday night.

The demonstration fueled the misinformation fire that has been roaring since polls closed in early November, Benson continued in the statement, and protesters are an extension of efforts to thwart the election.

“Through blatantly false press releases, purely political legislative hearings, bogus legal claims and so called ‘affidavits’ that fail to allege any clear or cogent evidence of wrongdoing, those unhappy with the results of this election have perpetuated an unprecedented, dangerous, egregious campaign to erode the public’s confidence in the results of one of the most secure, accessible and transparent elections in our state’s history.

“The demands made outside my home were unambiguous, loud and threatening. They targeted me in my role as Michigan’s Chief Election Officer. But the threats of those gathered weren’t actually aimed at me — or any other elected officials in this state. They were aimed at the voters.”

Throughout the election, President Donald Trump and his personal attorney Rudy Giuliani have circulated false conspiracies about election fraud in Michigan. The two continue to attempt to discredit the election by citing false allegations about absentee ballots counted in Detroit, allegations that have been disproven in court and by election officials.

Trump falsely claims that he won the election in Michigan when in fact he lost the state by more than 154,000 votes.

This intimidation of the Secretary of State at her home on Saturday night no doubt played a role in this blistering 35-page opinion from Judge Linda Parker of the U.S. District Court of Eastern Michigan, which she released just before 2 A.M. Monday morning (a most unusual time).

https://twitter.com/marceelias/status/1335946679112114177

Judge Parker described the Trump campaign’s legal efforts as undemocratic (because they are). Politico reports:

“In fact, this lawsuit seems to be less about achieving the relief Plaintiffs seek—as much of that relief is beyond the power of this Court— and more about the impact of their allegations on People’s faith in the democratic process and their trust in our government,” Judge Parker said in her ruling.

Judge Parker found the legal argument of the Trump electors defective for multiple reasons, most notably that the suit was moot because the state had already certified President-elect Joe Biden’s win in the state, sending his slate of electors to the Electoral College. She also found that the plaintiffs lacked standing to bring the suit, and brought it too late to be heard.

But Parker was at her most forceful when she considered the GOP electors’ goal: reversing Michigan’s entire election, disenfranchising millions of voters and declaring Trump the winner.

“With nothing but speculation and conjecture that votes for President Trump were destroyed, discarded or switched to votes for Vice President Biden, Plaintiffs’ equal protection claim fails,” wrote Parker, an appointee of President Barack Obama.

Even if their claims had merit, she added, “alleged injury does not entitle them to seek their requested remedy because the harm of having one’s vote invalidated or diluted is not remedied by denying millions of others their right to vote.”

Judge Parker repeatedly slammed the Trump electors for dallying in bringing their claims to court. She said many of the alleged irregularities would have been apparent by or on Election Day, but the plaintiffs waited more than three weeks after that to file the federal court suit she ruled on early Monday

“Plaintiffs showed no diligence in asserting the claims at bar,” wrote Parker. “If Plaintiffs had legitimate claims regarding the manner by which ballots were processed and tabulated on or after Election Day, they could have brought the instant action on Election Day or during the weeks of canvassing that followed—yet they did not.”

Judge Parker’s opinion was soon followed by a ruling from U.S. District Court Judge Timothy Batten in Georgia.

https://twitter.com/marceelias/status/1335983750593835012

Judge Batten described the effort by that state’s GOP electors “extraordinary” and unsupported by the law.

After hearing about an hour of arguments from various sides, the George W. Bush appointee issued a rare ruling from the bench dismissing the case outright. Batten said the electors there lacked standing to sue and were seeking an outcome that he is not empowered to provide: decertifying Biden’s victory.

UPDATE: Rick Hasen has a link to this rare oral ruling.

“They want this court to substitute its judgment for two-and-a-half million voters who voted for Joe Biden,” Batten said, calling it perhaps the most extraordinary relief ever sought in an election lawsuit. “And this I am unwilling to do.”

Batten rejected the suit on multiple grounds, including the timing of the complaint, the standing of the plaintiffs and the extreme relief they were seeking.

“We can’t turn back the clock and create a world in which the 2020 election results are not certified,” he said.

Both lawsuits were spearheaded by the disreputable Sidney Powell, a Texas attorney who briefly joined the Trump campaign’s legal team before being ousted last month because she was too nuts even for them. I know, who thought that was even possible.

I’m not sure whether Sidney Powell is Medusa in this analogy – although the courts are figuratively cutting off her head in state after state rejecting her bogus “Kraken” lawsuits (Arizona may well be next) – but here is Perseus slaying the Kraken in the 2010 version of “Clash of The Titans.”

By the way, that one “win” for Trump’s “elite strike force team” of “D List” Republican lawyers was shortening the post election cure period in Pennsylvania from 9 to 6 days for a small number of ballots. No seriously, that was it. So much winning!

Trump’s “elite strike force team” of “D List” Republican lawyers need to be disbarred for bringing these meritless frivolous lawsuits intended to undermine “People’s faith in the democratic process and their trust in our government.” Their attacks on American democracy cannot be allowed to go unpunished. A price must be paid.