At long last, a federal court in Michigan this week ordered monetary sanctions against Donald Trump’s “Kraken” lawyers for their abuse of the court system for cynical political gain. The order concludes the last of four—yes, four—frivolous lawsuits in that state seeking to impugn the results of the 2020 presidential election favoring Joe Biden. Although these kinds of sanctions are relatively rare, the decision is a shot across the bow to the likes of Sidney Powell, Lin Wood, and any other peddlers of Trump’s Big Lie about the election who plan to tout their snake oil in the federal courts in future elections. It also means that other courts—including state courts, which have at their disposal equivalent sanctions rules designed to disincentivize unethical or sloppy lawyering—might follow suit regarding this particular group of lawyers.
