Edit: Title should say "judges react to Trump election lawsuits"
The recent scene in Clark County, Nevada, has become increasingly common in courthouses around the country as President Donald Trump continues to push thinly supported allegations of election misconduct and fraud.
When Republican lawyers in Nevada complained their observers were not close enough if they could not hear everything poll workers were saying, U.S. District Judge Andrew Gordon pushed back.
"At what point does this get ridiculous?" the exasperated judge, an appointee of President Barack Obama, asked before ruling against the Republicans.
In court hearings and opinions around the country, judges are voicing similar frustrations with the Trump campaign's legal filings to a degree rarely seen in venues where political rhetoric is generally unwelcome, experts and courthouse veterans said.
"Judge after judge after judge has asked, in essence, 'Where is the beef?'" said Karl Racine, the attorney general for the District of Columbia and a frequent Trump critic, in a call with reporters Friday.
"We have seen numerous instances where affidavits have been filed … only to be immediately pulled back once tested in state and federal court," said Racine, whose own lawsuit against Trump in connection with the president's Washington, D.C., hotel is on hold pending appeal. "I would not be surprised that if these baseless allegations continue, judges will begin to threaten and indeed issue sanctions."
As the legal effort grew following the election, judges appeared to grow increasingly agitated by the claims. In Michigan, Judge Cynthia Stephens questioned attorneys about a sworn affidavit that Republican attorneys had gathered in which a witness said they were told about mishandling of ballots.
"What I have, at best, is a hearsay affidavit," said Stephens, who was appointed by then-Gov. Jennifer Granholm, a Democrat. "If there is something in that affidavit that would indicate that the [witness] observed activity that would be a depravation of the rights of poll watchers, I want you to please focus my attention on that. ... 'I heard somebody else say something.' Tell me why that's not hearsay. Come on now."
In Pennsylvania, Trump's lawyers had suggested their poll observers had been shut out of the locations where ballots were being counted. So when the lawyers acknowledged that the observers had, in fact, been permitted within 15 feet of the poll workers, U.S. District Judge Paul Diamond, appointed by then-President George W. Bush, appeared baffled.
"I'm sorry, then what's your problem?" Diamond chirped.
Judges appear increasingly frustrated with Trump's legal claims about 2020 election
In court hearings and opinions around the country, judges are voicing similar frustrations with the Trump campaign's legal filings, experts and courthouse veterans say.
abcnews.go.com