AFTER Donald Trump's bid to overturn his 2020 election loss, an advocacy group was launch-ed 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 United States 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 last 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 disfavoured client".
Teter said America First Legal's move shows "the fear among those who would like to use the courts to subvert democracy".
The duelling 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 licences 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 today's election.
The 65 Project, named for the number of suits 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 US$100,000 on advertisements in legal journals in battleground states warning lawyers not to risk losing their law licence by helping Trump.
America First Legal, a nonprofit founded in 2021 by former Trump White House aide Stephen Miller, harshly criticised the ads on its website in announcing its complaint against Teter.
"Seeking the personal destruction and financial ruin of another lawyer — simply because of the client he represented or the cause he took up — runs counter to... the letter and spirit of the law governing the activities of lawyers," America First Legal's executive director Gene Hamilton said in a statement announcing the complaint against Teter.
Among America First Legal's election-related activities this year was to file a suit in August seeking to force counties in battleground state Arizona to investigate about 44,000 voters, about one per cent of the statewide total, who were allowed to register without providing proof of citizenship.
A judge on Oct 11 declined to rule in America First Legal's favour before the election, which the group is appealing.
Of the lawyers targeted by the 65 Project between 2022 and 2023, at least four have faced discipline, state bar and court records show.
At least three complaints have been dismissed by disciplinary boards in Georgia and Pennsylvania, Teter said.
A spokesperson for the State Bar of Georgia confirmed that it had dismissed two of the complaints after investigation.
At least 12 lawyers against whom the 65 Project filed complaints have not faced discipline and are involved again in voting-related litigation on behalf of Trump allies, according to a Reuters review of the group's website and court records.
Teter said: "It's disappointing that bar associations are taking as long as they are to review and investigate and complete these matters, but I don't see it as a setback to our work."
America First Legal received US$44.4 million in contributions in 2022, the most recent year for which its tax returns are publicly available. The 65 Project's annual budgets are not publicly available.
Neither America First Legal nor the 65 Project disclose their funding sources.
In the lead-up to today's election, Trump and his allies have flooded courts in the country with suits seeking to change rules and purge voter rolls in what they say is an effort to make sure ballots are counted properly and people don't vote illegally.
In the past three weeks, Trump's allies have been dealt at least 11 court losses in battleground states, court records show.
But they have scored a handful of victories as well.
Last Wednesday, a Pennsylvania judge extended the deadline for some voters to request a mail-in ballot after Trump's campaign alleged some voters seeking ballots were improperly turned away.
*The writer is from Reuters
The views expressed in this article are the author's own and do not necessarily reflect those of the New Straits Times