Alan Dershowitz ordered to pay limited sanctions in Arizona election case

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(Reuters) - Retired Harvard Law professor Alan Dershowitz lost a bid on Friday to avoid sanctions over a lawsuit by failed Arizona gubernatorial candidate Kari Lake that sought to prohibit the use of electronic voting machines in her state's 2022 midterm elections.
However, U.S. District Judge John Tuchi in Phoenix held, opens new tab that Dershowitz is only responsible for 10% of a $122,200 sanction he leveled against the rest of Lake and former Arizona state representative Mark Finchem's legal team, which consisted of Andrew Parker of Parker Daniels Kibort and Kurt B. Olsen of the Olsen Law Firm.
Tuchi found that Dershowitz had a limited role in the case, and that "his public participation appears largely to have been engineered by others."
Dershowitz still signed numerous filings in the lawsuit, which Tuchi said was sanctionable.
"Failing to impose meaningful sanctions here might very well encourage others to follow suit by lending their credibility to documents filed in court without facing any real consequence if their certifications prove hollow or incomplete," Tuchi said in his ruling. "The need for general deterrence is therefore significant."
Dershowitz said in a statement that he did nothing wrong and will appeal Tuchi's ruling.
"If the judge had assessed me $1, I would have appealed," Dershowitz said. "I will take the case to the Supreme Court."
Parker said he and Olsen also intend to appeal Tuchi's ruling. They had argued there was no basis for sanctions.
Lake, a former television news anchor, and Finchem, a former Arizona state representative, sued former Arizona Secretary of State Katie Hobbs and officials in Maricopa and Pima counties in April 2022, in a bid to change the state and counties' voting procedures.
Dershowitz signed the complaint, as did Parker and Olsen. But he argued that he thought the complaint showed he was advising Lake, Finchem and their team in a limited capacity. Dershowitz said he was only paid for three or four hours of work on the lawsuit's constitutional questions.
Dershowitz said he has been consulting on constitutional issues as "of counsel" for 50 years.
Tuchi dismissed Lake's lawsuit in August. The Maricopa County officials named as defendants sought sanctions against Lake for trying to sow doubts about the then-upcoming 2022 elections.
Lake, a Republican, lost the governor's race to Democrat Hobbs but has never conceded. Finchem lost the secretary of state's race to Adrian Fontes.
The case is Kari Lake, et al., v. Adrian Fontes, et al., U.S. District Court for the District of Arizona, 2:22-cv-00677.
For Kari Lake and Mark Finchem: Andrew Parker of Parker Daniels Kibort, Kurt B. Olsen of the Olsen Law Firm, and Alan Dershowitz
For the Maricopa County Board of Supervisors: Emily Craiger of the Burgess Law Group, and Thomas Liddy, Joseph Branco, Joseph La Rue and Karen Hartman-Tellez of the Maricopa County Attorney's Office

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David Thomas reports on the business of law, including law firm strategy, hiring, mergers and litigation. He is based out of Chicago. He can be reached at d.thomas@thomsonreuters.com and on Twitter @DaveThomas5150.