Ninth Circuit En Banc Dissent as to Sanctions on Lawyers in Kari Lake's Election

From Judge Lawrence VanDyke's dissent from denial of rehearing en banc in Lake v. Gates , joined by Judges Consuelo Callahan, Ryan Nelson, Daniel Collins, Kenneth Lee, and Patrick Bumatay:

The panel decision in this case upheld a sanctions order under Rule 11 of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure and 28 U.S.C. § 1927 against attorneys Andrew Parker and Kurt Olsen. Parker and Olsen (collectively, "Lead Attorneys") represented plaintiffs Kari Lake and Mark Finchem in election-related litigation.

As the district court candidly acknowledged, the sanctions were intended to "send a message" to similar litigants in election-based lawsuits and to discourage litigation disfavored by the court. Zealous to safeguard the "public trust," the district court read plaintiffs' complaint out of context