Supreme Court leaves sanctions in place against Sidney Powell and others over 2020 election suit in Michigan
CBSFeb 20
SCOTUS Declines to Hear Trump Legal Ally's Appeal
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The Facts
The US Supreme Court (SCOTUS) has declined to hear an appeal by attorney Sidney Powell, who was among a group of lawyers who were fined over $150K by a Michigan court for attempting to file an election fraud case regarding the 2020 presidential election.
In November 2020, Powell and fellow attorney Lin Wood, among others, sued Michigan state officials and the city of Detroit over alleged election fraud. Their case was thrown out by US District Court Linda Parker, who then issued the sanctions.
The Spin
Anti-Trump narrative
The Michigan court system rightly punished Powell and her associates for trying to bring a completely unfounded claim to trial. The judicial system is not a place to spread dangerous conspiracies, which is why the district court sanctioned them and the appeals court upheld the decision. Any lawyer who wishes to politicize the courts will now think twice.
Pro-Trump narrative
While Powell has been turned into a conspiracy theorist caricature by the left, the truth is that election integrity is an issue in 2020 and going forward. The problem is that Powell attempted to broaden the scope of the case too much with too little time. The amount of evidence needed to bring such a case is very difficult, as shown by Powell's unfortunate failure to do so.
Nerd narrative
There is a 20% chance that any state will refuse to certify its election results during the 2024 US presidential election, according to the Metaculus Prediction community.