A federal judge in Savannah blasted Republican attorneys Tuesday for bringing what he called a factually and legally deficient lawsuit that sought to prevent Democratic-leaning counties from counting absentee ballots delivered in recent days.
The Republican National Committee and the Georgia Republican Party sought a restraining order to prevent the counting of ballots received Saturday through Monday in Athens-Clarke, Chatham, Clayton, Cobb, DeKalb, Fulton and Gwinnett counties. The lawsuit said state law prohibits Georgians from delivering their ballots in person to local election offices after the close of advance in-person voting Friday. After that, the GOP says voters can only deliver their ballots on Election Day.
Following a hearing Tuesday, Chief Judge R. Stan Baker of the Southern District of Georgia rejected the request and spent half an hour listing the reasons the claim is wrong. But he went further, chastising the GOP’s lawyers — Alex Kaufman of Alpharetta and Mark Bandy of Savannah — who brought the case.
“It’s dangerous when a nonlawyer makes claims that are factually and legally incorrect about the right to vote,” Baker said. “But for lawyers it’s more dangerous.”
The two Republican lawyers did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Georgia GOP Chair Josh McKoon blasted the judge’s ruling and the Democratic counties.
“Georgia Democrats and their willing allies in the Fulton County Elections Office without notice threw open the doors of their offices to try to harvest additional absentee ballots after seeing the historic early voting turnout among Republicans,” McKoon said.
“Judge Baker seems to think there is nothing inappropriate or illegal about this,” he said. “On that point, I could not disagree with him more strongly.
“Assuming no legal relief is forthcoming, I fully intend on pressing our case with the Legislature to make sure county employees are not able to make up new election procedures four days before Election Day,” McKoon said. “Georgians deserve better.”
The liberal voting rights group Fair Fight called the decision “a victory for Georgia voters.”
“The GOP’s repeated anti-voter lawsuits reveal their true strategy: suppressing votes, especially those who lean Democratic, to tilt the scales in favor of Donald Trump and disregard any kind of truth or law,” Fair Fight CEO Lauren Groh-Wargo said in a statement released after Tuesday’s hearing.
Georgia law allows voters to return absentee ballots by mail or in person until 7 p.m. on Election Day. Republicans have challenged the practice of delivering ballots in person in two lawsuits — one against Fulton County and another against seven Democratic-leaning counties. The lawsuits argued that early in-person voting ended Friday, so counties couldn’t accept absentee ballots in person on Saturday, Sunday and Monday.
On Saturday, a judge rejected the GOP request for an injunction against Fulton County. On Tuesday, Baker rejected the Republican request for a temporary restraining order against the seven counties.
In his oral ruling, the judge said Georgia law clearly allows voters to deliver their absentee ballots in person until polls close on Election Day. He noted that counties have been opening on weekends to accept ballots for years. And he said the lawsuit conflated rules for early in-person voting — which ended Friday — with rules for absentee ballots.
Baker said the Republican interpretation of Georgia law does not meet “even the most basic level of statutory review and reading comprehension.” And he noted the lawsuit targeted only Democratic-leaning counties — not counties such as Republican-leaning Walton that also accepted ballots over the weekend.
If he were to grant the Republican request, Baker said he would be depriving the people who returned their ballots Saturday through Monday of their right to vote — but only in “cherry picked” Democratic counties.
He even suggested such a ruling would violate his oath to administer justice fairly.
Baker said people in the political arena often play “fast and loose with the facts,” but he said the justice system demands that lawyers refrain from such behavior.
Baker compared the GOP allegations of unconstitutional wrongdoing to “the boy who cried ‘wolf.’ ” He said screaming “there’s a constitutional violation” when there wasn’t one could one day mean such allegations are not taken seriously.
“Please don’t take us any closer to that ledge,” the judge said.
Late Tuesday, the 65 Project, a legal watchdog group that has filed often unsuccessful complaints against dozens of lawyers who aided Trump’s effort to overturn the 2020 presidential election, announced it had filed ethics complaints against the two Georgia lawyers involved in the GOP lawsuit. Among the rules they say the lawyers violated: bringing and defending a matter they knew lacked merit.
“The polls haven’t even closed yet, but political lawyers are already violating their oaths as officers of the court by filing completely frivolous lawsuits that have no factual basis,” said Michael Teter, managing director of the 65 Project.
About the Author
