The US Supreme Court refused to disturb sanctions against Sidney Powell and other attorneys who pursued what were deemed frivolous legal claims in trying to upend 2020 presidential election results in Michigan.
The justices on Tuesday denied a bid by the attorneys challenging a decision by the US Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit that largely upheld monetary and other sanctions imposed by a district judge. They didn’t offer an explanation for their decision not to take up the appeal.
The appellate court in June rejected claims that Michigan officials used voting machines linked to a scheme involving “foreign oligarchs and dictators” to generate fraudulent votes for Joe Biden.
The Sixth Circuit found that many of the claims were refuted by the plaintiffs’ own exhibits.
“Other allegations arose from facially unreliable expert reports; still others were simply baseless,” the Sixth Circuit said.
Powell, a prominent conservative lawyer backing Donald Trump’s efforts to overturn the election won by Biden, and others were ordered to pay more than $150,000 in costs to the state and to Detroit for legal work defending the frivolous allegations.
The attorneys were also required to take legal education courses and were referred to their bar organizations for disciplinary proceedings.
The cases are Powell v. Whitmer, U.S., No. 23-486 and Wood v. Whitmer, U.S., No. 23-497.
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