Sidney Powell’s post-election “Kraken” is now nearly limbless.
Leaving only one of her post-election lawsuits standing, a federal judge on Tuesday dismissed Powell’s effort to overturn Arizona’s presidential election. The decision marks the third wholesale rejection of Powell’s conspiracy theories by federal courts across the nation, and the fourth judge skewered her pending lawsuit for a cascade of procedural errors.
“By any measure, the relief Plaintiffs seek is extraordinary. If granted, millions of Arizonans who exercised their individual right to vote in the 2020 General Election would be utterly disenfranchised. Such a request should then be accompanied by clear and conclusive facts to support the alleged ‘egregious range of conduct in Maricopa County and other Arizona counties . . . at the direction of Arizona state election officials,” U.S. District Judge Diane Joyce Humetewa began. “Yet the Complaint’s allegations are sorely wanting of relevant or reliable evidence, and Plaintiffs’ invocation of this Court’s limited jurisdiction is severely strained. Therefore, for the reasons stated herein, the Complaint shall be dismissed.”
The judge said she was left with “no alternative but to dismiss this matter in its entirety” because “gossip and innuendo” don’t cut it in court.
“Not only have Plaintiffs failed to provide the Court with factual support for their extraordinary claims, but they have wholly failed to establish that they have standing for the Court to consider them. Allegations that find favor in the public sphere of gossip and innuendo cannot be a substitute for earnest pleadings and procedure in federal court,” the judge concluded. “They most certainly cannot be the basis for upending Arizona’s 2020 General Election.”
During the hearing, Humetewa grilled Julia Haller, a lawyer at Powell’s firm, about the factual basis for her massive conspiracy theory involving Dominion Voting Systems, an alleged plot involving offshore servers and sinister algorithms.
“What declaration points to that significant tampering with the tally?” Humetewa asked.
Haller pointed to “Exhibit 13,” a declaration by an anonymous witness whose identity they refuse to disclose to the public. Another declaration uses a confidential witness code-named “Spyder.”
Arizona Secretary of State Katie Hobbs’s counsel Justin Nelson contextualized the case as a part of a national campaign of delegitimization: “After the election, however, this country has seen a proliferation of suits that seek to challenge the results.”
Powell’s latest defeat follows a two humiliating losses hours apart on Monday, in Michigan and Georgia.
In the Wolverine State, U.S. District Judge Linda Parker called Powell’s quest an affront to the democratic idea.
“The right to vote is among the most sacred rights of our democracy and, in turn, uniquely defines us as Americans,” Parker’s 36-page opinion stated. “The struggle to achieve the right to vote is one that has been both hard fought and cherished throughout our country’s history. Local, state, and federal elections give voice to this right through the ballot. And elections that count each vote celebrate and secure this cherished right.”
“The People have spoken,” Parker added later in the opinion, referring to the election.
In the Peach State, U.S. District Judge Timothy C. Batten, an appointee of George W. Bush, also slammed the request as breathtaking.
“The relief that the plaintiffs seek, this court cannot grant,” Batten ruled from the bench after a roughly hour-long hearing, wherein he called the bid “the most extraordinary relief ever sought” for an election in a court.
Read the dismissal of this “hodge-podge of alleged misconduct” below:
[photo by MANDEL NGAN/AFP via Getty Images]
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