Michigan AG files supplemental brief arguing Sidney Powell’s defense in defamation case supports argument for sanctions in election case

In case you don't remember, Sidney Powell is the former lawyer for the Trump campaign who at one time promised to "release the Kraken," argued that the Dominion vote counting machines had somehow been rigged to favor Venezuela's Hugo Chavez and that Dominion had bribed public officials in Georgia, among many other things. 

Some time later, Dominion sued her for defamation and in reply Powell argued that her statements could not constitute defamation because they were so crazy that no one would believe them to be true.  

This defense is somewhat problematic for her because if the statements were so unbelievable, then she herself must have known they were not true when she affirmed them.  And, since she affirmed them in support of litigation, by making the defense in the defamation case she is admitting to either being incompetent or to having instituted litigation improperly, both of which can subject her to professional discipline.

For this reason, it is not surprising to learn that the Michigan attorney general has filed a supplemental brief in the case in which the judge is considering imposing sanctions to draw the judge’s attention to Powell’s latest defense against the defamation lawsuit.  Law & Crime has more on the story.

Over at Verdict, Michael Dorf (Cornell Law) has published a good comment on the defamation case.

UPDATE:  TechDirt picked up the story here.

UPDATE 4/27/21:  Law & Crime has more on the story here. Above the Law has more here.