From trying to overturn the 2020 election to working to rollback reproductive rights across the country, Erick Kaardal has made himself the face of far-right lawsuits with no basis in reality
LANSING — Today, far-right extremists working with widely-denounced, Minnesota-based legal firm Mohrman, Kaardal & Erickson filed a lawsuit against Proposition 22-2, citing numerous unsubstantiated legal claims that are unlikely to hold up in any reputable court of law.
As a reminder, in 2022, Michiganders turned out and voted in the millions to affirm Prop 2, protecting voting rights and expanding voting access in our state to ensure every eligible resident can make their voice heard at the ballot box. Now, in an extreme but unsurprising move, Michigan’s far-right groups have filed a baseless and frankly confusing lawsuit in an attempt to overturn the will of the people.
But who is the lawyer behind this effort? Some might know him from the wild conspiracy theories he spewed about the 2020 election, others recognize him from filing what one outlet called “the dumbest election suit of all time,” and real followers know that he represented none other than celebrity Kanye West in his short but notable presidential campaign.
Let’s revisit some of Erick Kaardal’s greatest hits:
- Erick Kaardal tried – and failed – to push the Big Lie.
- Kaardal’s claims of “election bribery” by the leaders of multiple cities in Wisconsin were dismissed by the Wisconsin Election Commission, discredited by PolitiFact, and thrown out in court.
- Kaardal was openly mocked – and sanctioned – for his lawsuit challenging the 2020 election to federal court, with one judge forcing him to pay $280,000 in fines for his “frivolous” and “bad faith” legal clams.
- Other prominent judges have called his lawsuits “ridiculous,” “close to preposterous,” and “a bit like whack-a-mole.”
- Kaardal’s claims of “election bribery” by the leaders of multiple cities in Wisconsin were dismissed by the Wisconsin Election Commission, discredited by PolitiFact, and thrown out in court.
- Erick Kaardal advocated for a Christian nationalist agenda.
- In 2013, Kaardal co-wrote a book calling for preserving “the Christian cultural heritage” of the United States through immigration policies that would limit the number of people who are not Jewish or Christian to no more than 10 percent of the population.
- In 2013, Kaardal co-wrote a book calling for preserving “the Christian cultural heritage” of the United States through immigration policies that would limit the number of people who are not Jewish or Christian to no more than 10 percent of the population.
- Erick Kaardal has led the charge to file anti-LGBTQ+ and anti-choice lawsuits.
- Kaardal serves as Special Counsel to the Thomas Moore Society, a far-right legal group that advocates for severe abortion restriction, and files cases against abortion and same-sex marriage.
- In Minnesota, Kaardal pushed to restore antiquated statewide abortion restrictions and sued the city of Minneapolis to allow aggressive protesters near abortion facilities.
- In Texas, Kaardal sued pro-choice groups in an attempt to defend anti-choice groups’ right to call abortion a “crime.”
- Kaardal led the legal fight to constitutionally ban gay marriage in Minnesota.
- Kaardal serves as Special Counsel to the Thomas Moore Society, a far-right legal group that advocates for severe abortion restriction, and files cases against abortion and same-sex marriage.
It’s clear Michigan’s extremists are scraping the bottom of the barrel with this one. Now all that remains to be seen is if the Michigan GOP will publicly denounce these anti-democratic efforts to overturn a citizen-led ballot measure that passed with bipartisan support, embrace the crazy conspiracists for themselves, or continue…to…stay…silent. We’re not holding our breath.
###
