Michigan attorney booted from 2020 election lawsuit over ‘egregious misconduct’

• Michigan attorney Stefanie Lambert disqualified from elections defamation case by federal judge for leaking documents
• Judge finds she committed misconduct by sharing confidential court documents with Barry County Sheriff Dar Leaf
• Lambert, also facing multiple election-related criminal charges in Michigan, says she plans to appeal the decision

A pro-Trump attorney facing multiple election-related criminal charges in Michigan has been barred from a separate 2020 election lawsuit because she shared confidential court documents with a local sheriff. 

In a 62-page opinion released Tuesday, U.S. Magistrate Judge Moxila A. Upadhyaya disqualified Michigan attorney Stefanie Lambert from representing former Overstock CEO Patrick Byrne in a federal defamation suit seeking damages against him for spreading election misinformation.

Byrne was sued by Dominion Voting Systems, an elections equipment company used by many Michigan counties that was the subject of several conspiracy theories following the 2020 election after human error led to an initial results reporting error in Antrim County.

Attorneys for Dominion petitioned to have Lambert removed from the case after she released thousands of confidential case documents — in violation of court orders — to Barry County Sheriff Dar Leaf, who then shared them widely on social media.

Upadhyaya ruled in Dominion’s favor, finding that Lambert “deliberately violated multiple court rules and orders and continues to do so despite having had ample warning of the consequences,” concluding that the situation is “the rare case in which disqualification is warranted.” 

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Lambert told Bridge Michigan Wednesday that she plans to appeal the ruling.

Lambert, who has worked on 2020 election cases across the country, has unsuccessfully claimed fraud cost President Donald Trump the election. Numerous audits and investigations have found no such fraud, including a Republican-led probe by the Michigan Senate. 

Among her Michigan cases, Lambert worked on attorney Sidney Powell’s so-called Kraken case that sought to block certification of Michigan’s 2020 presidential election. A federal judge in 2021 sanctioned Lambert for the Kraken suit, but an appeals court panel reversed the penalties, ruling she had done only “minimal” work on the case. 

Lambert has argued she disclosed confidential Dominion case documents to Leaf – who she has represented in other litigation – because it showed evidence of the “most serious national security crimes that have ever been committed on U.S. soil.”

Among other things, she has pointed to emails from a Dominion employee in Serbia as evidence that  “foreign nationals are entering election systems in the United States before certification of the 2020 election.”

Dominion has acknowledged it has workers in various offices around the world but has dismissed her claims as conspiracy. 

The court agreed, finding that Lambert has failed to substantiate any allegation that the Dominion documents contain evidence of national security crimes. 

“Nor has Lambert explained why, when faced with these documents supposedly reflecting serious crimes of national importance, she chose to disclose them to a single county sheriff in Michigan as opposed to a national law enforcement agency,” Upadhyaya wrote in the ruling. 

Leaf, who is running for reelection and won a Republican primary last month, is a self-described “constitutional sheriff” whose lengthy investigation into the 2020 election has not led to any criminal charges.

Lambert, meanwhile, is facing multiple criminal charges in Michigan related to two separate incidents of what prosecutors allege was illegal election tampering. 

Lambert, along with Michigan Supreme Court candidate Matthew DePerno and former state Rep. Daire Rendon, faces multiple felony charges based on allegations they "orchestrated a coordinated plan to gain access” to voting machines in multiple jurisdictions.

The group allegedly took five ballot tabulators from Barry, Roscommon and Missaukee counties to Oakland County in a failed attempt to prove the machines were rigged against Trump. There, police contend the machines were "broken into" for "tests," according to court filings. 

Lambert was arrested in Washington, D.C. in March and ordered to return to Michigan after an Oakland County judge issued a bench warrant when she did not appear for a court hearing regarding her failure to comply with court requirements that she be fingerprinted and provide a DNA sample.

In court filings, Lambert indicated her absence at the hearing was caused by a miscommunication between her and her former legal counsel. Prosecutors countered that Lambert “has demonstrated a complete unwillingness to comply with the court’s orders” and can’t be trusted. 

In May, Lambert and former Adams Township Clerk were charged with multiple felonies in Hillsdale County based on Scott’s refusal of mandatory maintenance of a voting machine tabulator following the 2020 presidential election. 

Lambert, serving as Scott’s lawyer at the time, is accused of illicitly transmitting 2020 general election data from the Adams Township electronic poll book under Scott’s direction. Scott faces up to 20 years in prison if convicted, while Lambert faces up to 15 years. 

Those cases remain pending in Oakland and Hillsdale county courts.