{"id":2245306,"date":"2024-05-15T16:21:01","date_gmt":"2024-05-15T20:21:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/obama-appointed-judge-smacks-down-marc-elias-absurd-election-lawfare\/"},"modified":"2024-05-15T16:26:25","modified_gmt":"2024-05-15T20:26:25","slug":"obama-appointed-judge-smacks-down-marc-elias-absurd-election-lawfare","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/obama-appointed-judge-smacks-down-marc-elias-absurd-election-lawfare\/","title":{"rendered":"Obama-Appointed Judge Rejects Marc Elias&#8217; &#8216;Absurd&#8217; Election Legal Tactics"},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"float:left\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">18<\/div><span class=\"mashsb-sharetext\">SHARES<\/span><\/div><div class=\"mashsb-buttons\"><a class=\"mashicon-facebook mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservativenewsdaily.net%2Fbreaking-news%2Fobama-appointed-judge-smacks-down-marc-elias-absurd-election-lawfare%2F\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-twitter mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=&amp;url=https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=2245306&amp;via=ConservNewsDly\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-subscribe mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"#\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Subscribe<\/span><\/a><div class=\"onoffswitch2 mash-medium mashsb-noshadow\" style=\"display:none\"><\/div><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                <div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div><\/aside>\n            <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47--><p>A \u200brecent Wisconsin election case \u2062saw the Elias Law\u2064 Group, led \u200cby Democrat lawyer \u2064Marc Elias, face rejection\u200d in court over an\u200d unconventional \u2062absentee ballot challenge. \u200dThe lawsuit claimed violation of voting rights,\u200c but an\u2063 Obama-appointed judge dismissed it, criticizing the flawed interpretation. The judge \u2064emphasized the importance \u2062of deterring voter fraud and upheld the state&#8217;s election regulations.  <\/p>\n<p class=\"readmore\">\n    <button onclick=\"showReadMore()\" id=\"readmorebtn\">Read more&#8230;<\/button>\n<\/p>\n<hr id=\"line\">\n<span id=\"more\"><\/p>\n<p><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><\/p>\n<div class=\"article-content\">\n<p>The firm of Democrats\u2019 <a href=\"https:\/\/freebeacon.com\/politics\/when-dems-are-in-trouble-they-call-marc-elias\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">favorite<\/a> lawfare artist \u2014 who was also the attorney behind the Russia-collusion hoax \u2014 was all but laughed out of court in a recent Wisconsin election integrity case.  <\/p>\n<p>D.C.-based Elias Law Group, founded by former Clinton campaign and Democrat National Committee lawyer Marc Elias, brought a \u201cnovel\u201d absentee ballot complaint against the state that an Obama-appointed judge called \u201chead-scratching.\u201d <\/p>\n<div class=\"fdrlst__b89e9-paragraph-2-long d-flex justify-content-center\" style=\"margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center; \" id=\"fdrlst__b89e9-2123733778\">\n<div id=\"div-gpt-ad-1379703300879-0\" class=\"mb-30\"><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"fdrlst__b89e9-3e6aabf0f0f9ff9c66382cf9af29aea7 fdrlst__b89e9-paragraph-2\" id=\"fdrlst__b89e9-3e6aabf0f0f9ff9c66382cf9af29aea7\"><\/div>\n<p>In dismissing the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.democracydocket.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/10\/1-2023-10-02-Liebert-v.-WEC-Complaint-FILED38.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">lawsuit<\/a> against the Wisconsin Elections Commission, U.S District Court Chief Judge James D. Peterson summarily rejected the leftist law group\u2019s outlandish claim that a state law requiring a U.S. citizen witness and sign an absentee voter\u2019s ballot is a violation of voting and civil rights. <\/p>\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">\u2018Absurd\u2019 Interpretation<\/h2>\n<p>In a 37-page <a href=\"https:\/\/www.democracydocket.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/10\/2024-05-09-Order.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">ruling,<\/a> Peterson railed against the complaint\u2019s core argument, concluding that \u201cthe most obvious problem with plaintiffs\u2019 interpretation is that it simply does not make any sense.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe absurd results to which plaintiffs\u2019 interpretation would lead are reason enough to reject that interpretation. But the text, purpose, and history of <a href=\"https:\/\/docs.legis.wisconsin.gov\/statutes\/statutes\/6\/iv\/87\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">[Wisconsin Statute]  \u00a7 6.87<\/a> also support an interpretation that a witness is required to certify only the statements about the process of preparing the ballot,\u201d Peterson wrote of the lawsuit, filed in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Wisconsin.  <\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt is plaintiffs\u2019 interpretation that leads to head-scratching results,\u201d the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/kentucky-lawmakers-override-governor-ditch-school-mask-mandate\/\" title=\"Kentucky Lawmakers Override Governor, Ditch School Mask Mandate\">federal judge wrote<\/a>. <\/p>\n<div class=\"fdrlst__b89e9-a8020eafe9f53ea75a2aba6d9988e032 fdrlst__b89e9-paragraph-6\" id=\"fdrlst__b89e9-a8020eafe9f53ea75a2aba6d9988e032\"><\/div>\n<p>The Elias Law Group, practitioners of unbridled leftist lawfare, represent four Wisconsin residents who \u201cwish to vote by absentee ballot in the 2024 election, but they do not want to comply with the witness requirement,\u201d according to the lawsuit. They insist the process of asking any U.S. citizen to witness them vote and to sign their absentee ballots \u201cis difficult or inconvenient for them.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThey contend that the requirement violates two federal statutes, the Voting Rights Act of 1965 and the Civil Rights Act of 1964, and they seek to permanently enjoin enforcement of the requirement,\u201d Peterson writes in his ruling. <\/p>\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Basic Requirements <\/h2>\n<p>The statute requires absentee voters to certify on their ballot envelopes that they are residents of the district or ward in which they are voting, that they reside in the state and are entitled to vote, and that they are \u201cunable or unwilling to appear at the polling place \u2026 on election day.\u201d The law also requires the voter to certify that he followed the process for preparing the absentee ballot. <\/p>\n<p>Witnesses are required to certify that they are U.S. citizens and that the voting procedures were executed as stated. They must also affirm that they \u201cdid not solicit or advise the elector to vote for or against any candidate or measure.\u201d<\/p>\n<div class=\"fdrlst__b89e9-f67ea0ecdc7d78deeaf7d120e132a0f8 fdrlst__b89e9-paragraph-10\" id=\"fdrlst__b89e9-f67ea0ecdc7d78deeaf7d120e132a0f8\"><\/div>\n<p>Pretty simple. Not much of a burden. And as Peterson notes, the law is \u201cintended to serve legitimate and important purposes, such as deterring voter fraud, undue influence, and ballot harvesting.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>But the folks at the Elias Law Group see the witness provision as an affront to civil rights. One of the plaintiffs, Anna Haas, \u201cplans to be traveling overseas around the time of the November 2024 election.\u201d She won\u2019t have a U.S. citizen with her, so who will witness and sign her absentee ballot?! Well, any U.S. citizen traveling abroad could, or Haas could submit her ballot up to two weeks in advance, as Peterson notes. Plaintiff Anna Poi attends college in Minnesota. Poi prefers to use another Wisconsin voter as her witness so that she \u201cwill be able to locate and rely on the witness if it becomes necessary to cure the certificate.\u201d <\/p>\n<p>Putting aside the plaintiffs\u2019 laughable \u201cburdens,\u201d Peterson wrote that these poor, unfortunate souls \u201chave not shown that either the Voting Rights Act of 1965 or the Civil Rights Act of 1964 prohibits a state from <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/gop-lawmakers-seek-voting-reform\/\" title=\"GOP lawmakers seek voting reform\">requiring absentee voters<\/a> to prepare their ballot in front of a witness.\u201d<\/p>\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">\u2018Inconsistent with the Law\u2019<\/h2>\n<p>But it was the lawfare attorneys\u2019 bizarre reading of the state\u2019s <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/new-york-appeals-court-rejects-gop-challenges-to-covid-era-absentee-voting-laws\/\" title=\"New York Appeals Court Rejects GOP Challenges To COVID-Era Absentee Voting Laws\">absentee voting law<\/a> that really had the federal judge scratching his head. Elias\u2019 legal dream team argued that the statute requires a witness to do more than ensure that the voter followed procedure. According to their expanded interpretation, a witness would have to \u201ccertify that the voter is eligible to vote.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cBut that interpretation is inconsistent with the text and purpose of the statute, and it is inconsistent with how the law has been interpreted since it was enacted,\u201d Peterson wrote. <\/p>\n<p>The Elias Law Group\u2019s interpretation, according to the ruling, would effectively force the witness to be a private investigator, determining the voter\u2019s \u201cage, residence, citizenship, criminal history, whether the voter is unable or unwilling to vote in person, whether the voter has voted at another location or is planning to do so, whether the voter is capable of understanding the objective of the voting process, whether the voter is under a guardianship, and, if so, whether a court has determined that the voter is competent.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>That\u2019s not what the law asks, and an attorney who puts the law before politics would know that. <\/p>\n<p>\u201cPlaintiffs\u2019 expansive interpretation of the law would lead to arbitrary restrictions on states\u2019 authority to regulate elections and threaten any requirement on a voter to provide information on a ballot or related document, including a signature requirement or Wisconsin\u2019s requirement that an absentee voter certify that he or she is not voting at another location,\u201d Peterson wrote in his smackdown of the Elias attorneys\u2019 absurd legal argument. <\/p>\n<p>\u201cPlaintiffs have not identified any reason why Congress would have restricted states in the way plaintiffs propose.\u201d <\/p>\n<p>With that, the judge directed the clerk to close the case. <\/p>\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Russia Hoax Architect<\/h2>\n<p>It\u2019s what you might expect from a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.elias.law\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">firm<\/a> \u201ccommitted to helping Democrats win\u201d and headed by one of the chief <a href=\"https:\/\/justthenews.com\/politics-policy\/elections\/how-top-democrat-lawyer-caused-both-left-and-right-lose-faith-us\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">architects<\/a> of the Russia-collusion hoax. <\/p>\n<p>Marc Elias and his fellow Democrat election deniers insisted the 2016 election, in which Republican Donald Trump won the presidency, was rigged \u2014 thanks to supposed Russian collusion with the Trump campaign. They were so committed to that concept that they paid for and pushed a Russian-sourced dossier accusing Trump and his allies of all manner of corruption. But the dossier turned out to be phony opposition research, paid for by Hillary Clinton\u2019s campaign and the DNC she controlled. That didn\u2019t stop Elias and crew from peddling it to a willing deep state and a hungry accomplice media which employed the hoax to try to take down a president they loathed. <\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe legal mastermind probably most responsible for the leftist push to subvert our democracy, overturn elections, and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/chuck-schumer-vows-build-back-better-vote-to-put-joe-manchins-opposition-on-record\/\" title=\"Chuck Schumer Vows Build Back Better Vote to Put Joe Manchin's Opposition on Record\">destroy election integrity<\/a> is Marc E. Elias,\u201d wrote John Fund and Hans von Spakovsky in their 2021 book <em>Our Broken Elections<\/em>. Elias \u201chas grown astoundingly wealthy representing Democratic candidates, political action committees, and party organizations\u201d and \u201cseems to have a monopoly on the Democratic political machine.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>It was Elias, as a partner with Perkins Coie, the law firm that represented Hillary Clinton\u2019s 2016 presidential campaign, who hired Fusion GPS to churn the dirt on her opponent. <\/p>\n<p>\u201cFusion went on to solicit former MI6 agent Christopher Steele to create the infamous Steele dossier, which contained several salacious and since-debunked claims about Trump and his alleged ties to Russia,\u201d Just The News reported in a <a href=\"https:\/\/justthenews.com\/politics-policy\/elections\/how-top-democrat-lawyer-caused-both-left-and-right-lose-faith-us\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">piece<\/a> headlined, \u201cHow a top Democrat lawyer undermined both sides\u2019 confidence in U.S. elections.\u201d <\/p>\n<p>Eight years later, Elias\u2019 law group is engaged in lawfare to rig election laws in Democrats\u2019 favor around the country, spending millions to weaken election integrity statutes in advance of November\u2019s rematch between Donald Trump and Joe Biden. <\/p>\n<div class=\"fdrlst__b89e9-ff4e08c729bdd09d13d9480fd33c09ac fdrlst__b89e9-after-post-content\" id=\"fdrlst__b89e9-ff4e08c729bdd09d13d9480fd33c09ac\"><\/div>\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator\">    \t\t\t\t\t   \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n<p><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Democrats&#8217; famed legal strategist, tied to the debunked Russia collusion narrative, faced a setback in a Wisconsin election legality dispute. Marc Elias, head of the D.C.-based Elias Law Group linked to Clinton&#8217;s campaign, raised an unconventional absentee ballot challenge in court, garnering skepticism<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":656,"featured_media":2245307,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/05\/Screenshot-2024-05-15-at-1.00.42-PM-1024x548.png","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[546],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2245306","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-the-federalist"],"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/05\/Screenshot-2024-05-15-at-1.00.42-PM-1024x548.png","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2245306","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/656"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2245306"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2245306\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2245307"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2245306"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2245306"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2245306"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}