[troutman]

Amid Trump's Post-Election Chaos, Hold Lawyers to Account on the Vote Count

https://www.newsweek.com/amid-trumps...pinion-1535976

Lawyers are members of state bars, where they have sworn to uphold the Constitution, not undermine it. State bar associations are charged with upholding the integrity of the profession, which often includes bringing disciplinary action against lawyers whose unprofessional or unethical conduct would otherwise compromise that integrity. Trump's campaign lawyers should not get a free pass to act as Trump's agents in an attempt to reverse the election results. So the question becomes, what are state bar associations going to do to forewarn campaign attorneys that the filing of frivolous actions intended to thwart the exercise of a citizen's constitutional right to vote will be subject to scrutiny, potentially warranting disciplinary actions? Allowing lawyers to act without constraint in an attempt to invalidate the most sacred right of any citizen would be a complete dereliction of basic bar organization responsibility to make sure the ethical conduct of lawyers is appropriately policed.

The state bar associations in the key swing states—Maine, Florida, Pennsylvania, Ohio, Michigan, Wisconsin, Colorado, Arizona, Montana, North Carolina, Georgia and Iowa—need to issue a statement to any attorneys in their states participating in election activity making known that 2020 election-related litigation will be scrutinized, and frivolous lawsuits brought to deprive citizens of having their vote counted will not be tolerated. While the Trump legal challenges will claim there is a substantial evidentiary basis for alleging that certain votes should be invalidated, given the history of mail-in ballots, it is quite apparent that most of these claims will be lacking in any meaningful support, and therefore, in all likelihood, will constitute an abuse of the legal process.