MAGA Architect Of 2020 Election Denial Invited By American Bar Association To Give Election Law CLE
What was the ABA thinking?
Over the last eight years, a lot of lawyers lent their credibility to the Donald Trump/MAGA takeover of the country — often to their professional detriment. But one MAGA attorney seems to have slipped by the worst backlash, despite his prominent role in creating the legal framework to try to steal the results of the 2020 election for Trump.
I am referencing Mark Martin. The dean of High Point University’s law school was previously Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of North Carolina, Associate Judge on the North Carolina Court of Appeals, dean and professor of law at Regent University School of Law. He was also the brains behind the theory that the Vice President could just choose not to certify the election results on January 6th. Trump told Mike Pence he “had spoken with Mark Martin, the former chief justice of the North Carolina Supreme Court, who he said had told him that Mr. Pence had that power (to reject the Electoral College votes on January 6th 2021).” All of which resulted in effigies of Pence during the attempted coup that day.
But even after Martin’s high-profile role in trying to subvert democracy by promulgating piss-poor legal takes, his legal career continued apace. Martin’s problematic role in 2020 election denial and subsequent coup has been so consequence free for him that he’s now being touted as an election law expert by none other that the American Bar Association.
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That’s right, the ABA, which has a number of election-related resources on its website, recently recorded a CLE entitled, What Judges Should Know About Election Law — featuring none other than Martin.
How embarrassing.
And I’m not the only one who thinks so. Professor Rick Hasan said, “Very disappointing to see this.” But it really begs the question, why is the ABA selling out its credibility on this issue? This feels like a case of bothsideism run amuck. The other panelists were Judge Tani Cantil-Sakauye (officially an Independent, but appointed by Republican California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger) and Minnesota’s Judge Peter Reyes, appointed by Democratic Governor Mark Dayton, so that far-right MAGA perspective was missing. But… isn’t that a good thing? The bunk theory that Pence could just appoint Trump president in 2020 is a stain on American history generally, and even more so on those committed to upholding the rule of law… like, you know, the American Bar Association.
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As we rapidly approach another presidential election — with judicial shenanigans afoot — it’s more important than ever to understand exactly who we are looking to as our experts on election law. In the wake of the 2020 election, Martin proved he’ll abandon legal principles to advance a partisan goal. It’s downright shameful that the ABA is holding him up as someone whose opinions matter — and offering continuing legal education credits for listening to him.
Kathryn Rubino is a Senior Editor at Above the Law, host of The Jabot podcast, and co-host of Thinking Like A Lawyer. AtL tipsters are the best, so please connect with her. Feel free to email her with any tips, questions, or comments and follow her on Twitter @Kathryn1 or Mastodon @[email protected].
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