Dem
48
GOP
52
The lawyers on both sides are ready for battle. They all know that while the voters can give their input if they like, the real decisions these days are made by the courts (and maybe Congress). As soon as he got out of prison for refusing to obey a congressional subpoena, the first thing Steve Bannon noted is that the Democrats had hired Marc Elias to oversee their legal strategy. He said Elias is the toughest election lawyer in the country and you only hire him when you want to go to the mattresses. That implies that Alina Habba or whoever Donald Trump picks as his lead lawyer is only #2 at best. Trump is not going to like that. Elias agreed and said: "My team of lawyers is better than the GOP's. And we're ready to beat them again in 2024." There is little doubt in anyone's mind that Elias is indeed very sharp. Trump may have trouble finding anyone as good—and will probably have to pay him or her in advance.
If you are an election law nerd, you probably know these already, but if you are a wannabe election law nerd, you might want to bookmark DemocracyDocket.com, which was founded by Elias to inform the public about voting rights, redistricting, election law, and other democracy-related legal issues. The other go-to election site is Election Law Blog, which was founded by UCLA Law Professor Rick Hasen, who has written many books about election law and related topics. Hasen has never publicly stated if he is a Democrat or a Republican, but he often opposes attempts to prevent people from voting, so we doubt the Republicans would even try to hire him to match off against Elias.
Elias has assembled a top team to work with, including two former solicitors general, Seth Waxman and Don Verrilli, as well as Joe Biden's personal lawyer, Bob Bauer. In addition, the Harris campaign has engaged some of the country's top law firms for additional assistance.
RNC co-chair Lara Trump said the GOP election litigation operation is functioning smoothly. Actually, there isn't much of a GOP operation in house. Instead they have hired Jones Day and the Dhillon Law Group. Jones Day is one of the biggest law firms in the country, with over 2,000 lawyers. Major clients include R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Company, North American Coal Association, and the Arizona Republican Party, but also NPR. In 2012, it challenged the Affordable Care Act in court. The Dhillon Law Group was founded by Harmeet Dhillon, an immigrant from India. See? Trump loves immigrants. Dhillon is currently an RNC member from California. While these are certainly high-powered firms, they are just hired guns who are in it largely for the big bucks. Guys like Elias, Waxman, Verilli, and Bauer certainly like the money, but for them, it is also about fighting for democracy. And the Democrats also have the advantage that they have an insider, Elias, who is running the legal show and can make tough decisions. The Republicans have two good firms, but there could be conflicts between them on strategy.
The lawfare has already begun. There are already 200 election-related lawsuits pending, mostly in swing states and mostly about who can vote and which votes count. By Friday there could be 400 of them, mostly frivolous. We have to hope the courts throw the frivolous ones out quickly. (V)