This group, amusingly named “lawyersdefending democracy” since they are doing anything but, has penned several diatribes against President Trump and his lawyer “enablers,” effectively asserting that our democracy will fall unless lawyers refuse to work for the President in challenging various aspects of the recent election. They proceed from the assumption, which they characterize as a “fact” that there is no evidence of “widespread fraud” in the election. Maybe there is and maybe there isn’t. Maybe there is just some fraud but it isn’t widespread. Maybe there isn’t any fraud but a bunch of screw-ups. Maybe the actions and prejudices and obvious biases of Facebook and Twitter constitute widespread election meddling.
States at the last minute changing the rules for signatures, timing of receiving ballots, etc., certainly sounds fishy, but they are facts. Machines that didn’t work or mis-counted ballots, that’s a fact. And now that state officials are being forced to delve into every nook and cranny, in large part because of the legal actions of the President and his lawyers, every day brings a story of another batch of ballots found somewhere that were uncounted, or the like.
Moreover, anyone who believes that massive voting by mail isn’t ripe for irregularities, and that there is a long list of such irregularities already established, is a fool. Relying on this pandemic to twist the rules is perhaps the hallmark of this election, even if it might not amount to “widespread fraud”. Any reasonable observer, including lawyers, would agree that such – let’s just call them “irregularities” – should be investigated.
These diatribes by a privileged, self-appointed, sanctimonious and self-important group sadly amount to nothing more than their own distaste for the President and completely fail to acknowledge that reasonable people, including reasonable lawyers, may have different perceptions of events. Maybe there isn’t some widespread fraud organized and implemented by Russia or China or whomever. Maybe there is. That doesn’t mean there aren’t some curiosities that shouldn’t be investigated, and unless someone forces that to happen, it isn’t going to. And the Democrats certainly aren’t going to do it on their own.
The “fact” is that truth, like beauty, is often in the eyes of the beholder, and there is no societal group that should know that better than lawyers. Any real lawyer that actually tries cases in the courts or administrative hearings knows quite well that truth doesn’t necessarily win cases – perceived truth does. That is, whoever is more effective in convincing the factfinder wins on what is true or false. The weepy sympathetic witness, whoever the factfinder feels more sorry for, the guilty murderer who goes free on the legal “technicality”. It is a feeble-minded lawyer indeed who believes that truth is something objective and readily ascertainable.
What is even sadder is the pathetic lack of confidence in our democracy these lawyers demonstrate. This country has gone through much worse than Trump and survived. While claiming to defend the Constitution, they completely ignore the First Amendment, among other things, not to mention lawyers’ traditional role of representing unpopular clients.
This is all not to even include the outsize role both the overwhelmingly liberal and “progressive” media, and these social media networks like Twitter and Facebook, etc.. seem to have on peoples’ views and perceptions. If there is any fraud anywhere it probably lies in these networks managing their systems to favor one candidate or party over another, for whatever reason. But in the end that’s may be no different that big business or big labor buying votes with campaign contributions in the right places, but at least that is way more out in the open.
But attacking lawyers will always be popular among a certain set – everybody hates lawyers until they need one, right? But as Jonathan Turley wrote at https://thehill.com/opinion/judiciary/525970-the-lawless-fantasy-to-oust-all-the-election-lawyers-of-donald-trump
This effort has resulted in Twitter blocking the Lincoln Project for targeting lawyers in a tweet that was denoted as abusive. The Lincoln Project is said to have also joined Democrats in targeting law firms like Porter Wright and threatening its attorneys with ruin. It claimed that any law firm working for Trump with election litigation is a “dangerous attack” over our democracy. But trying to strip people of counsel is the real attack. The law firm buckled and cited new internal struggles and at least one resignation.
This campaign to intimidate the lawyers who represent Trump is not about vengeance but rather insurance. Even if the success of these cases is very small, his opponents do not want to risk the judicial scrutiny of the ballots. Posts on social media targeted clients of law firms such as Jones Day, and the Lincoln Project pledged $500,000 to make the lives of these lawyers a living hell. It is the kind of tactic which is used by antifa and other activists to “deplatform” speakers or harass individuals at their homes.
. . . . The person most undermined is Biden. Instead of asking for the review of these cases to affirm his legitimacy as the next president, his backers are harassing lawyers and running a retaliation campaign. It is an ironic twist since many of us marveled at how guilty Trump looked in his acts to bully his accusers and derail the Russia investigation. The best thing for Trump would have been to support a full investigation. There is also no evidence of systemic election fraud. The best thing for Biden would be to support a full investigation. The threats and biased media coverage only worsen the suspicions of the 72 million Americans who voted for Trump.
So yes, let’s just cancel all the lawyers, ruin their lives, reputations and livelihoods and cover up everything even if it isn’t as dramatic as it sometimes is advocated to be. THAT is the real danger to democracy.