Republicans nominated some truly radical candidates in 2022 secretary of state races, but Arizona’s Mark Finchem stood out as among the most amazing. As regular readers might recall, Finchem was an unhinged election denier who appeared on QAnon radio shows, attended the “Stop the Steal” rally in the nation’s capital on Jan. 6, and identified himself as a member of the Oath Keepers militia group. Last year, he also encouraged vigilantes to monitor ballot drop boxes in the Grand Canyon State.
This extremism did not prove to be a winning platform, and the GOP candidate ended up losing by roughly four points. But as the public soon learned, Finchem doesn’t just deny the results of the 2020 election, he also denied the results of his own election: The Republican filed suit to contest his defeat, hoping a court would order a do-over election.
That didn’t work out especially well, and a judge dismissed his case as baseless. But as NBC News reported, that wasn’t the only thing the judge did.
A judge on Monday ordered sanctions against Republican Mark Finchem, the losing candidate in Arizona’s secretary of state race who challenged the election results in court. In granting the sanctions, Maricopa County Superior Court Judge Melissa Iyer Julian said Finchem and his attorney, Daniel McCauley III, filed their lawsuit “without substantial justification.”
The judge’s order conceded that sanctions should only be awarded in “rare cases,” before concluding that Finchem’s lawsuit really was “groundless and not brought in good faith.”
At this point, I know what some readers are probably thinking. “Didn’t this already happen?” you’re asking. “I distinctly remember Finchem already facing court sanctions.”
You’re right, but that was an entirely different case. Last year, the Arizona Republican also filed a rather outlandish case, hoping to prevent Maricopa and Pima counties from using electronic election equipment. A federal judge evaluated the complaint, found it ridiculous, dismissed the case, and sanctioned Finchem and his allies for filing a “frivolous” case.
Yesterday’s order meant the former GOP candidate was hit with sanctions again.
Finchem can at least take some comfort in knowing he has quite a bit of company. Among the Republicans who’ve also recently faced court sanctions for filing lawsuits without merit are Donald Trump’s legal team and Arizona’s Kari Lake, among others.
Given the relevant details, this is encouraging. Courts should certainly exercise great caution before discouraging worthwhile litigation, but there’s also value in punishing those who clog the courts with cases filed in bad faith.
Revisiting our earlier coverage, American courtrooms are not supposed to be abused by politicians filing frivolous cases in pursuit of partisan theatrics. The judiciary is not a toy. There is a reasonable expectation that all litigation, even if ultimately unsuccessful, has at least some merit.
And when attorneys file performative cases in pursuit of scoring political points, it’s also reasonable to expect them to pay a price.
