Republicans have nominated a truly radical candidate for Secretary of State in 2022, but Arizona’s Mark Finkem stands out as one of the most surprising. As regular readers may remember, Finchem appeared on QAnon’s radio show, attended a “Stop the Steal” rally in the capital on January 6, and was a member of the Oath Keepers militia group. He was a free-spirited election naysayer who made it clear. Last year, he encouraged vigilantes to monitor the Grand He Canyon State ballot drop-boxes.

This extremism did not prove to be a winning platform, and the Republican candidate lost about 4 pointsBut as the public soon learned, Finchem not only denied the results of the 2020 elections, he also denied the results of his own elections. Republicans have filed lawsuits to challenge his defeat in the hope that the court will order a rerun election.

It didn’t particularly pan out, and a judge dismissed his lawsuit as baseless. reportwas not the only thing the judge did.

A judge on Monday ordered sanctions against Republican Mark Finkem, the losing candidate for secretary of state in Arizona, 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 the lawsuit “without substantial justification.”

The judge’s order acknowledged that sanctions should only be awarded in “rare cases” before concluding that Finchem’s case was indeed “baseless and not brought in good faith.” I got

At this point, we know what some readers are probably thinking. “Hasn’t this already happened?” you ask. “I distinctly remember that Finchem was already facing court sanctions.”

Right, but that was a completely different case. Last year, Arizona Republicans also filed a rather outlandish lawsuit, hoping to prevent Maricopa and Pima counties from using electronic election equipment. A federal judge assessed the complaint, found it absurd, dismissed the lawsuit, and imposed sanctions on Finchem and his allies for filing the “baseless” lawsuit.

Yesterday’s order meant the former Republican candidate was sanctioned again.

Finchem can take at least some comfort in knowing he has quite the company. include Donald Trump’s legal team and Kari Lake in Arizona. others.

Given the details involved, this is encouraging. Courts need to exercise great caution before discouraging worthy lawsuits, but there is also value in punishing those who clog courts with lawsuits brought in bad faith.

Revisiting our earlier coverage, American courts are not supposed to be abused by politicians filing frivolous lawsuits to pursue partisan theatrics. . There is a reasonable expectation that all litigation will have at least some merit, even if ultimately unsuccessful.

It’s also reasonable to expect lawyers to pay a price when they bring viable litigation to get a political point.