A federal judge on Tuesday struck down a lawsuit filed by the Republican National Committee that sought to "segregate" certain ballots from Georgia's Democratic strongholds.
The RNC filed suit on Saturday against seven Democratic-leaning counties that opened their election offices over the weekend to accept absentee ballots in person, alleging that the practice violated the Equal Protection Clause of the 14th Amendment.
State law allows offices to accept absentee ballots up until Election Day and Georgia's Republican Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger noted on X that the practice was perfectly legal. In his ruling on Tuesday, U.S. District Judge Stan Baker agreed, saying that Republicans' claims were a "parade of horribles" that were "factually and legally incorrect."
Baker tore into the RNC in a brutal oral ruling, saying that their case contained “no supporting facts” and cherry-picked counties based on their past voting records.
Baker said the lawsuit, filed by pro-Donald Trump attorney Alex Kaufman, was an attempt to “tip the scales of this election by discriminating against [counties] less likely to vote for their candidate.” Kaufman sat in on Trump's infamous calls to Raffensperger, in which the former president encouraged the secretary of state to "find 11,780 votes."
Baker did not reprimand Kaufman and the RNC's other attorneys on Tuesday when he ruled from the bench, but he did stop just short of accusing them of lying. The judge brought up the attorneys' "duty of candor," which is their obligation to tell the truth to the court.
“It’s dangerous when a non-lawyer makes claims that are factually or legally incorrect about the right to vote,” he said, per Lawfare. “But a lawyer, it’s even more dangerous…That’s why we have serious repercussions for those who violate the duty of candor.”
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