Ahead of US election, lawyers duel over ethics breach accusations

Source: Yahoo! News/Reuters

Sat, November 2, 2024 at 7:03 AM EDT


HARRISBURG, Pennsylvania (Reuters) - After Donald Trump's bid to overturn his 2020 election loss, an advocacy group was launched to take on the lawyers who aided in his doomed effort, hitting them with more than 80 ethics complaints. With Trump again the Republican candidate for the U.S. presidency, his allies have fired back at this group, named the 65 Project.

A pro-Trump nonprofit known as America First Legal has accused the 65 Project of engaging in a left-wing attempt to intimidate conservative lawyers, filing a bar complaint earlier this week against the 65 Project's top lawyer Michael Teter. The Oct. 28 complaint said Teter was targeting lawyers "based solely upon their representation of a disfavored client." Teter said America First Legal's move shows "the fear among those who would like to use the courts to subvert democracy." A representative of the body that weighs lawyer misconduct allegations in Utah, where Teter is licensed, declined to comment on the complaint against Teter.

The dueling misconduct allegations underscore the critical role lawyers are once again playing as another close election looms. Some of the lawyers involved in Trump's unsuccessful 2020 bid to remain in power, which was premised on false claims of widespread fraud, have lost their licenses or been indicted. Trump has said he cannot possibly lose this time around unless Democrats cheat. This raises the prospect he would contest the results if Vice President Kamala Harris were declared the winner after the Nov. 5 election.

The 65 Project, named for the number of unsuccessful lawsuits it says were filed to challenge Democratic President Joe Biden's win, says its mission is to deter lawyers from bringing false election claims. In September, the group pledged to spend at least $100,000 on advertisements in legal journals in battleground states warning lawyers not to risk losing their law license by helping Trump.

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