Marc Elias: warrior for democracy
Steve Bannon hates him. So does Stephen Miller. His name inspires fear amongst litigious rightwing groups hellbent on manipulating, perverting or falsifying legislation to Republican advantage in various battleground states. He’s the quintessential bogeyman of Republicans, populating their nightmares, living rent-free in the darkest places of their tiny minds. Lawsuits sometimes get unilaterally withdrawn when the litigant sees this person’s name on the other side of the “v.”
His name is Marc Elias and he is a voting rights lawyer. He fights against Republicans who employ nefarious legal and extralegal means to keep votes from being counted. But don’t let his mild-mannered, balding and bespectacled appearance fool you. He’s the crouching tiger of cross examination, the hidden dragon of defence. He’s someone you most decidedly do not ever want to f**** with, legally speaking.
Along with defending democracy with a flaming sword, Elias publishes Democracy Docket, a leading progressive platform for information, analysis and opinion about voting rights, elections and democracy. Democracy Docket publishes a case tracker, and notes that there have been an unprecedented number of anti-democracy cases launched this year. Elias says that number has exceeded more than 180 such lawsuits — and counting. The huge number underscores the desperation of Republicans and their determination to seize power. (For scale, recall that some 65 lawsuits were filed by day-drunk Rudy and others in support of the Big Lie after the 2020 election.)
Elias’s firm can’t handle all of the lawsuits filed, but he does manage to take on as much as one third of them. And in every case he’s always successful. Powerful law firms wilt in his presence, judges bow down to his superb arguments exposing the lunacy or even illegality of the plaintiffs’ cases. More often than not such cases are summarily dismissed, often with prejudice, meaning the litigants may not file the case again.
Recently in Nevada, a battleground state, naturally, Republicans challenged 30,000 voters on the rolls in three separate lawsuits. The Elias Group (Marc’s law firm) filed a motion to defend, and within a few days the “pigpen plaintiffs” actually dismissed their own cases, with prejudice. The very same thing happened previously in Georgia. The litigants often hope to get a friendly reception with a rightwing judge. As soon as they see the name Marc Elias on the title page they know the game is up — and they scramble faster than cockroaches in the glare of a kitchen light.
Marc Elias is one of those unsung heroes of American democracy. Or, if his name is part of someone’s song, that song doesn’t get enough airtime. Whatever the case, I’m doing my small part here by reminding each of you, brothers and sisters, that here on earth, if angels are sometimes real, Marc Elias is definitely one of them. And, as ever, ladies and gentlemen, brothers and sisters, comrades and friends, stay safe.
Robert Harrington is an American expat living in Britain. He is a portrait painter.