Officials in Michigan requested on Wednesday that lawyers who unsuccessfully tried to reverse former President Donald Trump’s election loss in the state pay $200,000 in legal fees and charges.
Judge Linda Parker of the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Michigan decided last month that state and local election officials in Michigan are entitled to reimbursement of their legal expenses, but she has not yet established the precise amount. The judge will now consider whether the $200,000 request is reasonable.
The city of Detroit, which spent approximately $180,000 on a private law firm in the lawsuit, demanded the majority of the $200,000. Attorney General Dana Nessel’s office requested approximately $20,000 in funding.
Parker ordered the restitution as part of a settlement with the lawyers, which included former Trump campaign lawyer Sidney Powell and famous litigator Lin Wood.
Last year, Trump’s attorneys filed a lawsuit in Michigan to invalidate Democratic Vice President Joe Biden’s election victory against Trump. Parker speculated that they deserved to have their legal licenses revoked.
In her Aug. 25 judgment, Parker stated that pro-Trump attorneys should have done more research into the Republican former president’s voter fraud accusations before bringing what she called a “frivolous” case.
Parker, who rejected the Michigan lawsuit in December, has asked disciplinary agencies to look into whether the pro-Trump lawyers’ legal licenses should be revoked. The attorneys were also required to attend seminars on the ethical and legal standards for making legal claims, according to the judge.
“This action constitutes a historic and terrible misuse of the legal process,” Parker said in her judgment, adding that the case “was never about fraud – it was about eroding the People’s trust in our democracy and debasing the judicial process in the process.”
