By Jan Wolfe
WASHINGTON (Reuters) -A U.S. judge on Wednesday imposed disciplinary sanctions on Sidney Powell, a former campaign lawyer for Donald Trump, and other attorneys over a lawsuit they filed in Michigan seeking to overturn Democratic President Joe Biden’s election victory.
In a highly anticipated written ruling, U.S. District Judge Linda Parker in Detroit said the pro-Trump lawyers, including Powell and prominent litigator Lin Wood, should have investigated the Republican former president’s voter fraud claims more carefully before suing.
Parker formally requested that disciplinary bodies investigate whether the pro-Trump lawyers should have their law licenses revoked.
The judge also ordered the lawyers to attend classes on the ethical and legal requirements for filing legal claims, and to reimburse election officials for expenses incurred defending the lawsuit.
“This lawsuit represents a historic and profound abuse of the judicial process,” Parker said in her decision.
The judge said Powell, Wood, and other lawyers who worked with them “have scorned their oath, flouted the rules, and attempted to undermine the integrity of the judiciary along the way.”
Powell and Wood did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
Parker dismissed the Michigan lawsuit last December, saying in a written decision that Powell’s voter fraud claims were “nothing but speculation and conjecture” and that, in any event, the Texas lawyer waited too long to file her lawsuit.
Starting in January, Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel and other government lawyers asked the judge to discipline the pro-Trump lawyers, saying they had filed a frivolous lawsuit full of typos and factual errors and should be held accountable.
(Reporting by Jan Wolfe; editing by Richard Pullin)
