Should Donald Trump succeed in overcoming Vice President Kamala Harris in the upcoming election on November 5, he may encounter a formidable adversary in the legal arena: her campaign attorney, Marc Elias.
As reported by Paul Sperry of RealClearInvestigations, Elias, a veteran attorney affiliated with the Democratic Party, has initiated over 60 pre-election lawsuits aimed at obstructing Trump’s path to reelection. His legal actions focus on what he characterizes as Republican tactics of “voter suppression,” including the requirement for voters to present identification at polling places. Aligning with a prevalent Democratic viewpoint, Elias contends that such measures are inherently “racist,” intended to hinder the ability of minority voters to participate in the electoral process.
“At the same time, Elias has been sending letters to election officials in Georgia and other key swing states threatening legal action if they uphold challenges to voter rolls to remove noncitizens and other ineligible registrants,” Sperry writes. “Some Georgia officials complain that his intimidation tactics are interfering with county registrars’ ability to check the qualifications of voters.
“If Trump is declared the winner, the hard-charging attorney threatens to overturn his election by deploying an army of more than 75 lawyers to sue for ballot recounts in several swing states,” Sperry noted further. “Trump, in turn, has threatened to lock Elias up for election interference, as ABC News moderator David Muir pointed out in last month’s presidential debate between Trump and Kamala Harris.”
Elias illustrates the growing significance of “lawfare” in U.S. elections, as both primary political parties increasingly turn to the judicial system to secure a competitive edge, according to Sperry’s report. A recently published memo from the Republican National Committee indicates that the Trump campaign has initiated or participated in 123 lawsuits related to the election across 26 states, with 82 of these cases occurring in key battleground states, in an effort to address allegations of voter fraud.
Furthermore, the campaign has mobilized thousands of attorneys to respond to what a Trump lawyer predicts will be a significant wave of litigation from the Harris campaign contesting the election results. This extensive legal team is also poised to launch recount efforts should Trump fail to achieve victory, the report stated.
Sperry continued:
“Election experts say that these GOP efforts – fueled, in part, by Trump’s claim that Democrats stole the 2020 election – are playing catch-up. Democrats have long been at the forefront of strategies to use the court to impact elections, and no one has been more important to that cause than Elias, who keeps a sign behind his desk that warns: “BEWARE OF ATTACK DEMOCRAT.” To many Democrats, he is a hero. The headline of a 2022 profile of Elias in the New Yorker called Elias, “The First Defense Against Trump’s Assault on Democracy.” Conservatives tend to see Elias in a much different light.”
“Mr. Elias is part of a massive and well-funded partisan leftist operation notorious for using lawfare to undermine election integrity,” Tom Fitton, president of Judicial Watch, told Sperry. “Making it easier to steal elections is the antithesis of ‘democracy.’”
