Former Biglaw Partner Is Back On Her Election Denying Bullsh*t – Above the Law

MAGA
lawyer
Cleta
Mitchell
is
back
at
it
—
trying
to
sow
seeds
of
doubt
about
the
2024
election,
even
before
the
results
are
in.
Sure,
her

dubious
legal
advice
surrounding
the
2020
election
got
her shitcanned
from
Biglaw
firm
Foley
&
Lardner’s
partnership
(and
the
fact
that
the
firm

claimed
to
have
no
knowledge
of
the
representation).
But
her
entire
gig
now
basically
revolves
around
disenfranchising
voters
—

as
reported
by
Shawn
Musgrave
at
the
Intercept.

Today,
Mitchell
is
a
senior
fellow
at
the
Conservative
Partnership
Institute
and
founder
of
the
Election
Integrity
Network.
In
recent
weeks,
she
has
helped
plant
lawsuits
that
seek
last-minute
changes
to
election
procedures
based
on
the
hypothetical
risk
of
election
fraud
from
overseas
voters.
Mitchell
did
not
respond
to
The
Intercept’s
questions,
including
about
the
status
of
a
disciplinary
complaint
filed
against
her
in
2022.

Of
course,
those
lawsuits
are
in
swing
states.

The
current

con
cases
involve
casting
doubt
on
the
votes
of
U.S.
citizens
abroad.
Mitchell
has
described
her
“theory”
in
public
statements.

“They’re
literally
getting
people
to
lie,”
Mitchell
said,
“and
to
say
that
they’re
overseas
or
to
say
that
they’re
citizens,
and
the
states
are
not
checking
at
all.
And
so
I’ve
helped
to
organize
suits
in
two
states:
one
in
Pennsylvania,
one
in
North
Carolina.”

Mitchell’s
comments
follow
recent
claims
from
Trump
that
Democrats’
get-out-the-vote
efforts
among
overseas
citizens
was
actually
cover
for
fraud.
Two
lawsuits
match
the
timing
of
Mitchell’s
interview
and
her
description:
one
filed
in
federal
court
in
Pennsylvania
on
behalf
of
six
Republican
members
of
Congress,
and
the
other
in
state
court
in
North
Carolina
on
behalf
of
the
Republican
National
Committee
and
the
state
GOP.

The
RNC
filed
a
similar
third
suit
last
week
in
Michigan,
after
Mitchell’s
interview.
And
Mitchell
said
she
hoped
to
see
similar
litigation
over
overseas
ballots
filed
soon
in
Wisconsin
and
Georgia.

The
RNC
has
denied
Mitchell
worked
on
their
lawsuits.

Officials
have
strongly
denied
there’s
any
fraud,
except
that
which
lives
in
MAGA
attorneys’
heads.

“This
is
not
a
legitimate
legal
concern,”
Angela
Benander,
spokesperson
for
the
Michigan
Department
of
State,
told
The
Intercept.
“Just
the
latest
in
the
RNC’s
PR
campaign
to
spread
unfounded
distrust
in
the
integrity
of
our
elections.”
On
Monday,
the
agency
asked
for
sanctions
against
the
RNC’s
attorneys
for
filing
a
last-minute
lawsuit
“devoid
of
legal
merit”
over
long-standing
overseas
ballot
procedures.

But
even
without
evidence
of
voter
fraud,
the
litigation
itself
fuels
the
problem.

“One
of
the
lessons
from
2020
was
that
the
impact
of
bringing
all
these
lawsuits
in
terms
of
public
trust
in
the
election
was
significant,”
said
legal
ethics
professor
Scott
Cummings,
who
has
written
about
the
MAGA
legal
braintrust’s
efforts
to
keep
Trump
in
power.
“Most
of
the
lawsuits
then
were
not
designed
to
win
on
the
merits,
but
to
confuse
the
public.
These
cases
are
of
a
same
piece.”

“It
seems
like
there’s
a
political
calculation,”
Cummings
said.
“These
lawyers
unfortunately
believe
it’s
worth
it.”

Makes
you
wonder
about
the
status
of
that

disciplinary
complaint
against
Mitchell.

---

Kathryn
Rubino
is
a
Senior
Editor
at
Above
the
Law,
host
of

The
Jabot
podcast,
and
co-host
of

Thinking
Like
A
Lawyer.
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