Marc Elias to Make Controversial Appearance as DNC Counsel Before the Supreme Court

(MSNBC/via YouTube)

English novelist Robert Smith Surtees once said, “There are three sorts of lawyers – able, unable, and lamentable.” That view was never truer than this month as the United States Supreme Court hears from a lawyer who may be more controversial than the underlying case. In an election case that will require at least two conservative justices to join their liberal colleagues, the Democratic National Committee (DNC) picked one of the most polarizing and controversial attorneys in the country: Marc Elias.

Elias clearly has supporters and advocates who value his aggressive reputation and past work for Democratic causes. He is viewed as the unblinking, unhesitating advocate of Democratic candidates with a long background on election challenges.

Yet, many view his tactics and record as deeply troubling, including some on the left. (For the record, I have long been a critic of Elias due to his past controversies).

Generally, parties seek to focus courts on the merits rather than the lawyer chosen for an appeal. The DNC appears to have discarded that approach.

Elias is a previously sanctioned attorney who was also a key player in the secret funding of the Steele dossier, leading to the false Russian collusion scandal. Courts have also criticized his group for supporting raw partisan gerrymandering efforts. Making this even more curious is the fact that Elias has attacked the conservative majority, including calling them “increasingly hostile to civil rights.”

The Russian Collusion Hoax and Concealment

It was Elias who was the general counsel to the Clinton presidential campaign when it secretly funded the infamous Steele dossier and pushed the false Alfa Bank conspiracy. (His fellow Perkins Coie partner, Michael Sussmann, was later indicted but acquitted).

Clinton campaign officials denied any involvement in the Steele Dossier. When journalists discovered after the election that the Clinton campaign hid payments for the Steele dossier as “legal fees” among the $5.6 million paid to Perkins Coie, they were reportedly stonewalled.

New York Times reporter Ken Vogel said at the time that Elias denied involvement in the anti-Trump dossier. When Vogel tried to report the story, he said, Elias “pushed back vigorously, saying ‘You (or your sources) are wrong.’” Times reporter Maggie Haberman later wrote that “Folks involved in funding this lied about it, and with sanctimony, for a year.”

Notably, Elias was allegedly sitting next to John Podesta, Clinton’s campaign chairman, when he was questioned by Congress about the Steele dossier and categorically denied any contractual agreement with Fusion GPS.

Democratic Attack Lawyer

The Clinton campaign and the Democratic National Committee were ultimately sanctioned by the FEC over the handling of the funding of the dossier through his prior firm.

Nevertheless, other Democratic groups continued to hire Elias. He unsuccessfully led efforts to challenge Democratic electoral losses.  Elias was also the subject of intense criticism after a tweet that some have viewed as inherently racist.

While routinely billing himself as a “defender of democracy,” Elias was often accused of working against democratic choice. In Maryland, Elias’s team filed in support of an abusive gerrymandering of the election districts that a court found not only violated Maryland law but the state constitution’s equal protection, free speech and free elections clauses. The court found that the map “subverts the will of those governed.”

One media site accused Elias and his group of “making millions off gerrymandering efforts” while publicly denouncing Republican gerrymandering.

The New York Times reported that “detractors on the left fault him for empowering the ultrarich to exercise disproportionate political influence, and for pushing aggressive initiatives that have backfired at times, playing into the hands of the Republicans he strives to thwart.”

In 2024, Elias’s legal team was also accused of pushing “to bar third-party presidential candidates — including Cornel West — from swing state ballots where they might siphon votes from the Democratic nominee [Kamala Harris].”

Likewise, the New York Times reported that Elias’s firm’s work “on behalf of a Soros-funded PAC in Texas…was opposed by a left-leaning election watchdog as undermining laws intended to limit the influence of major donors.”

His group’s work for New York redistricting was ridiculed as not only ignoring the express will of the voters to end such gerrymandering but also effectively negating the votes of Republican voters.

In 2024, the Chief Judge of the Western District of Wisconsin not only rejected but ridiculed the Elias Law Group for one of its challenges. Judge James Peterson (an Obama appointee) said that the argument “simply does not make any sense.”

Attacks on the Conservative Majority

Making his appearance even more intriguing is Elias’s past criticism of the conservative justices individually and as a group.

Last year, Elias suggested that the conservative justices were fostering the MAGA agenda and observed that the Court is seen by the right “as a force multiplier in [Trump’s] authoritarian quest, rather than an obstacle. Long after this election is over, that may well be the legacy this Supreme Court leaves behind.”

He has also supported the criminal referral of Justice Clarence Thomas to the Justice Department and said that he is benefiting from a “two-tier justice system.”

On Justice Alito, he told former Senator Al Franken that he could not say whether the justice was voting on principle or just “his animus for Democrats.”

He also criticized how the conservative justices “constantly misread in how to act” or conduct themselves so not to harm the Court.

The Elias Factor

Elias’s predictions on the Court’s likely actions are equally sketchy. For example, he chastized other liberal lawyers for raising the “independent state legislature theory” before the Court. Elias dismissed the Court as a majority of virtual political hacks, warning, “given the composition of the Supreme Court, no one who cares about free and fair elections should be rushing to get the Supreme Court to potentially create any doctrine where none exists.”

The Court ultimately rejected the theory in a major victory for the left in Moore v. Harper.

To make this even more baffling, the Democrats will need every vote that they can get.  This week, the Supreme Court delivered a blow to Democratic efforts to gain control over the House in the midterm elections. As Democratic states like California are further gerrymandering their districts to add Democratic members, Democratic groups are challenging efforts by Texas and Republican states to engage in the same redistricting. Given past gerrymandering in blue states, red states have more ability to add members in this tit-for-tat effort.

Now, on December 9th, the DNC will have Elias make its case in National Republican Senatorial Committee v. Federal Election Commission, asking the court to strike down the coordinated party expenditure limits in campaigns.

Notably, Elias is not viewed by many, including some on the left, as a force for good on campaign finance issues. The New York Times reported that Elias “played a key role in carving new pathways for big money into the political process.”

Fortunately, for the Democrats, those conservative justices whom Elias has trashed appointed someone to defend the law (since the administration is supporting the challengers).  They appointed Roman Martinez, a former clerk to Chief Justice John Roberts and then-Judge Brett Kavanaugh, who will offer an unburdened and likely strong case for preserving the law and prior precedent.

However, as good as Martinez is expected to be, he will then be joined by a counsel viewed as positively radioactive. Arguing for protecting the integrity of elections will be someone viewed by many as having played a critical role in one of the greatest political hoaxes in history, and someone who heads groups sanctioned by both the judiciary and the federal government for legal actions.

Before the normally staid Court, it is a moment not to be missed. I expect that the justices will show far more restraint than Elias has shown in his public attacks. (After all, these justices must decide these appeals on the law: not on the counsel or personal bias). Indeed, some may find the notoriety to be mildly entertaining. Yet, for many, using Elias to defend the integrity of the election process will be more than just “lamentable.” It borders on the laughable.

Jonathan Turley is the Shapiro professor of public interest law at George Washington University and the author of the best-selling book “The Indispensable Right: Free Speech in an Age of Rage.

284 thoughts on “Marc Elias to Make Controversial Appearance as DNC Counsel Before the Supreme Court”

  1. This isn’t about nasty DNC attorney Marc Elias

    If you’re not happy with the garbage collection then the policy is to double your trash back.

  2. PSA: Those reading this thread will note that X is on board today. Be aware, X can read Turley’s minds.
    And X can see ghosts.

  3. At a Q&A with Trump at the Kennedy Center this weekend.

    Q: Should Netflix be allowed to buy Warner Brothers?
    TRUMP: That’s a question. They have a very big market share. I’ll be involved in that decision

    Translation: I am now accepting bribes.

    1. No question that Trump will need some convincing from Netflix before he approves the merger.
      A few hundred million slipped under the table, a huge donation to his ballroom, a large purchase of his meme coins.
      Trump’s middle name is quid pro quo.

            1. Really, how do you know it is the same guy.
              I never would have guessed that.
              I guess I am just too dimwitted to realize that, just like all the other MAGA people here.

              1. Me too. Thanks for pointing that out.
                I am so glad that someone is able to point these things out to us MAGA dimwits

                1. We should all be thankful that people like you are able to point out the obvious to those of us too dimwitted to realize these things.

                  1. I agree.
                    I never would have guessed it was the same guy talking to himself.
                    I guess I am just too slow to understand these things.

                    1. You are obviously much smarter than us MAGA dimwits who are incapable of realizing that it was the same guy answering his own comments

                  2. Obviously you are correct, now that I look at it.
                    The rest of us are just too stupid to understand what is going on

                    1. We need more people like you to point these things out so that idiots like us can realize what is really going on here.

                    2. Without you, stupid people like us would have no clue what is really going on in this blog.

                    3. We should all give thanks that such brilliant people are here on this blog to point these things out.

                    4. I agree, I am truly thankful.
                      It takes true genius to recognize when someone is trolling this blog

                  3. Anon, you’re a malicious entity serving no purpose here except to antagonize others. You’re destructive. What is destructive is evil when there is no other purpose except destruction itself leaving only rubble. It’s very odd behavior. Go to a blog where you can construct rather than destroy. These people aren’t dimwitted. They live by morals and ethics. They do not believe nor think unfettered license to do whatever moves them in the moment leads to anything good. 👋

                    1. These losers seem to think that they have some sort of right to say whatever they like here.

                    2. I agree.
                      It’s almost as if they think they have some sort of right to say anything at all on this blog devoted to free speech.

                    3. Imagine that.
                      This loser seems to think he has the same free speech rights as us MAGA faithful.

                    4. Where do these people get the idea that they have the same free speech rights as us ???

                    5. We all know that the Founding Fathers never intended for losers like this guy to have any Constitutional rights.

            2. Rabble:
              You’d think it would have learned a thing or two about trolling from the reddits it moderates. Never do a same- or next-minute reply to your own post. It makes it embarrassingly easy to call it out. As the posts from 10:16 to 11:57 show, it is just a petulant compensating baby thrashing into the void. We know your tricks, stooge. Get some new ones. Your vanity is sucking up my bandwidth!

              1. Rabble, has the thought crossed your feeble mind that perhaps it was intended to make it obvious that it was the same troll doing next minute replies.
                The whole point is to irritate idiots like you into responding, which you inevitably do, in an effort to point out something that is obvious to everyone else.

          1. Wow !!!
            We have yet another genius on this blog who is able to recognize trolls who reply to themselves.

            1. This is amazing .
              We MAGA faithful really don’t understand what is going on.
              Thanks for pointing that out.

                1. It’s truly amazing that we should have not one, but two geniuses here today who are able to detect trolls.
                  I never would have guessed for myself.

                    1. Great idea.
                      What is your secret K.
                      Please tell us how you able to detect these trolls who reply to themselves.

                    2. I agree, we are probably not smart enough
                      Maybe we should just let the true geniuses like K do the troll detection and advise us accordingly.

                    1. Why are you so upset, K
                      It’s not as if we are the same person making these comments.
                      I can assure you that is not the case.

                    2. K seems to think we are the same person making these comments.
                      Maybe he is not so smart after all

      1. Quid pro quo? Trump???
        —AND any other democrat politician, by any other name.

        The most famous, obvious and classic, example of the braggart-Biden’s promise to Viktor Shokin, in Biden’s very pulbicly stated Burisma corruption PROTECTION of Hunter and friends—You still don’t get it, do you?

  4. What an embarrassing blog. He must be doing something right since your Nazi panties are all wadded up. You have zero integrity, dear.

  5. Elias worked for Perkins Coie during the Steele Dossier shenanigans, and shortly thereafter went out on his own, so it’s tempting to conclude Perkins Coie fired him.

  6. Having Elias represent them before the Court is a good strategic move. The DNC expects to lose the case, but Elias will give them good arguments to win the next elections so they can pack the court. He is not there to win the case, but to argue the case before the public afterwards.

  7. Elias at SCOTUS is a brilliant, bold move for the DNC in asserting itself as uncompromising and non-moderating for the 2026 Elections. He would easily be confirmed to the Highest Court by the cadre of current Dem leaders who’re willing to keep the Fed Govt. shut down over the Big Badly Beautiful Bill. His championing of saving (socialist-) democracy and utilization of Constitutional concepts and terminology to oppose Republicans and advance patriotic Leftism against the Hitlerian Court will feed the media and the “No Kings!” minions who want to see and hear pushback and fight in every way possible in stopping Trump and restoring America to its previous greatness that we all experienced under Biden.

        1. 86 failed to use the sarcasm font.

          Irony and sarcasm are the hardest things to detect on the internet.

          1. K isn’t the sharpest knife in the drawer…
            What’s the old adage about a blind Pig and an acorn?!

    1. “restoring America to its previous greatness that we all experienced under Biden.” Thanks for my laugh of the day!

    2. Nothing changes with the modern left except that somehow they get even worse, and slimier as time goes by, and that their willingness to exploit our system for their own benefit grows. Nothing in this piece is the least bit surprising.

  8. The Supreme Court will also be ruling on the 100 years Of Congress usurping its powers to create a fourth branch of government.

  9. Elias is exactly the reason our founding fathers hoped the new nation could avoid partisanship.

  10. Sounds like an interesting day at the Supreme Court. I commend the professor for his breakdown of the DNC counsel. The words almost dripped poison but in an elegant fashion.

  11. Elias was one of the principle players in the 2016 election interference and attempted coup d’etat. The fact that Democrats don’t care and embrace him shows how little Democrats care about democracy.

    1. ” attempted coup d’etat”, you say? Nay, fait accompli. The destroyers have created a cesspool without anything resembling the USA.

      Salvage is what’s left. 😢

      1. ^^^^ Congratulations black folk! You’ve destroyed your own house. The USA is now a narco-state government. Isn’t that just like you always with the drugs and perversion.

        Jasmine Crockett is in the news screaming today. 😂.

  12. Do you know what you have with 200 lawyers at the bottom of the sea? A good start…Do you know what is brown and black and looks good on a lawyer? A Doberman…Lawyers, while necessary, are a bane on this society…laws cannot be understood because of all the legalese that the law is put through; judges these days are no better; the one group that should reign in clowns like Elias, do nothing and many of them wish to be unelected to the legislature, legislators…and guess where these judges come from? The “lawyer” class…

    1. Anon, use AI Google to find out how to watch the show. Maybe Gorsuch can quickly interject a question between kbj – I don’t understand queries. The Roberts can say- I’d like to hear the answer. If you can’t follow kbj lack of logic just remember she can understand it either.

  13. Are not members who are permitted to represent clients before the Supreme Court required under the Court’s rules and admission protocols to be of good morals? Rule 5 governing admissions requires that the lawyer “must appear to the Court to be of good moral and professional character.” Rule 8, on the other hand, allows for suspension or disbarment if the lawyer has “engaged in conduct unbecoming a member of the Bar of this Court…” To borrow Professor Turley’s title of these articles, Elias’ prior conduct constitutes res ipsa loquitur regarding his “conduct” as a lawyer. “Unbecoming” is a euphemism when it comes to Elias.

    Quaere: why is Elias still even a member allowed to appear before the Court?

    1. “ Quaere: why is Elias still even a member allowed to appear before the Court?”

      Because he’s not a lawyer with bad morals, if he’s able to argue before the Supreme Court, then it means Turley’s characterization of Elias is just gratuitous backhanded slander.

      1. Backhanded slander is still slander, so prove it. You saying so does not make it slander. You’re either stupid or a liar.

      2. So your argument (X) when asked why he should be allowed to argue before the Court is basically…because he is arguing before the Court. Ah, this is the level of intelligence we have come to expect of our very own George Costanza. Mr. Opposite.

        1. “because he’s arguing before the court.” Another example of X’s circular logic compulsion.

        2. Hullbobby, my argument is that Elias is qualified to argue before the Supreme Court. Turley does not want to admit it, and to express his disdain for Elias, he chose to engage in a bit of slanderous gossip about Elias to avoid the fact that, despite his claims, Elias is an effective lawyer.

          I’m putting out my opposing view of Turley’s apparent attempt to smear Elias ahead of a critical Supreme Court case. Questioning Elias’s character based on allegations and past smears is a poor argument instead of making an argument on the merits of the case. It’s funny how Turley avoided discussion of the case itself and focused on Elias’ alleged “unethical” actions instead.

          1. George X says Hullbobby, my circular argument is that Elias is qualified to argue before the Supreme Court… and…. BBBBUUUTTTTT…. MUH TURLEY!!!!

            George X – you are The Karen X Of A Thousand Slanderous And Hateful Lies… whether BBBBUUUTTTT… MUH TURLEY!!! or BBBUUTTTT… MUH TRUMP!!!!

          1. ^^^^ faithful readers of PT blog, I’ve noticed as soon as anyone engages X with a comment the flies swarm the blog. FYI

      3. So Elias’ prior professional conduct as a member of the Supreme Court bar is exemplary, as opposed to being unbecoming?

      4. X lied: Because Elias is not a lawyer with bad morals, if he’s able to argue before the Supreme Court,

        Is your childish lack of reading comprehension the reason for you attempting that circular argument – if he is in fact appearing before SCOTUS that is proof he has good morals and character?

        This is the ethical and unindicted Marc Elias who engaged in tax evasion by submitting returns claiming that the $6 million he money laundered to illegally pay Russian spy Igor Danchenko to write the fictional and felonious Trump-Russia Dossier didn’t go to that felonious cabal of foreign spies working for Clinton and Obama, but supposedly into his bank account as payment for services he rendered Clinton as her lawyer.

        Your equally amoral and unethical BBBUUUTTTT…. MUH TURLEY!!!! is what a communist Democrat like you would call “gratuitous backhanded slander” if you were commenting on any Republican instead of defending the unindicted felon, Marc Elias.

  14. It’s quite remarkable how there’s so much talk about Elias as a controversial lawyer—more likely just mudslinging or casting Elias in a negative light, and for what? Nothing he’s done is illegal or criminal. He’s simply… controversial, at least in Turley’s eyes.

    It’s amusing how Professor Turley singles out Elias as some sort of bad lawyer, while ignoring the truly astonishing record of bad lawyers. Giuliani, Eastman, Pirro, the Kraken lady, Halligan, Blanche, and others—many have shown incompetence, and some have ended up disbarred or had their careers cut short. Meanwhile, Elias still has a job, retains influence, and practices law effectively, which is precisely why Turley is relentlessly bashing him. He’s attacking his character just before a key Supreme Court hearing to distract from the fact that Elias and his co-counsel could present a solid, persuasive argument. After all, Supreme Court justices are supposed to decide based on the case’s merits, not the reputations of the lawyers arguing it.

    Is Professor Turley hoping that one or two conservative justices stumble upon his blog and get influenced by Elias’s supposed “bad character” to sway their decision? Who knows, but it certainly seems like that’s the underlying aim of this article.

    1. Besides the 5th Circuit Court sanctions and his involvement with laundering “legal fees” to pay for the Steele dossier, yeah, he’s totally clean-ish.

      1. Those sanctions were a mere slap on the wrist. It doesn’t detract from the fact that Elias is still a good laywer and that is why Turley is attacking his character hard. He is famous because he’s good. Unlike Trump’s latest cadre of lawyers who seem to be from a pool of clearly incompetent species.

        1. Yeah what a guy, the little Steele dossier fraud cost American taxpayers over $42M and seditiously undermined a duly elected President. This scum should be indicted along with the rest of the corruptocrats that orchestrated the attempted coup.

            1. The $42M is tied directly to the result of a fraud committed by Queen Hillary and all those that knowingly conspired with her plan. Where’s the accountability?

    2. Amusing? So Elias lied to congress and that’s amusing?

      Turley never said that 2 judges should stumble upon his blog to influence a SCOTUS decision.

      Seems to sway? Then you’re delusional. Or on LSD.

      You’re a pathological serial liar.

    3. Mudslinging? Now he’s bad? Make up your mind.
      Thought you said it is all slander? Backhanded slander no less.

    4. What you claimed was a major felony when Trump did it (the billing issue) you now claim is not illegal at all.

      I will agree with you that some of Trump’s lawyers have been less than stellar, even a partisan hack like you would have to grudgingly admit that all of the lawfare cases against Trump have been either defeated or found wanting on appeal. When you are attacked with the full power of the federal government, along with the assistance of state governments with corrupt judges and partisan juries, with a determination of a dog on a bone and you end up defeating them at every turn the lawyers deserve a lot of credit.

      1. Yes, in Hillary’s parallel to the “34 felonies” farce, Elias was her co-conspirator in violating New York Election Law 17-152. She submitted falsified business records to the FEC, by mislabeling Steele Dossier payments as “Legal Services ” Elias served as her Michael Cohen in this heinous crime.
        “Political organizations” count as “enterprises” under New York Penal Law,175.00, and what was her 2016 campaign other than a political organization headquartered in Brooklyn, New York? Thus Hillary, too, violated New York Penal Law 175.10, so both she and Elias should be in prison.

      2. Hullbobby,

        “What you claimed was a major felony when Trump did it (the billing issue) you now claim is not illegal at all.”

        Nope. I didn’t make that claim. Prosectors charging Trump did.

        Plus you’re confusing two very different things.

        I have no problem admitting some of the cases against Trump were defeated or found wanting on appeal, but….that was not merely because of good lawyers, it was also due to Trump appointed judges helping him avoid serious accountability by nudging his still incompetent lawyers in the right direction. What has never changed is Trump’s ability to hire incompetent lawyers. He’s gone through so many lawyers leaving behind wrecked careers and disbarrments. Not a good record and certainly not something Professor Turely seems to want to bring up.

    5. George X tried to see if this shyte would stick: It’s quite remarkable how there’s so much talk about Elias as a controversial lawyer… Nothing he’s done is illegal or criminal.

      If you don’t count the falsification of income tax returns to cover being the bagman money laundering the money illegally paid to the Russian spy who Clinton and Obama funded paying to write their Russia Dossier.

      What’s NOT remarkable that George X once again predictably shows up lyin’, denyin’ and deflecting as he claims he can’t understand why Americans still remember Elias’ corrupt and felonious past and comment here and elsewhere on why he still has a license to practice law. And asking why he’s appearing before SCOTUS as supposedly of moral character when he should be in jail instead.

      Oh… and also predictably, for George X to add yet another BBBBUUUTTTT…. MUH Turley!!!

      For George to believe he has any credibility to make this stick… is it pervasive mental illness or perverted sexual gratification as a masochist getting off on the virtual whipping and beatings he gets in response here?

  15. Aww Turls, this push piece op ed doesn’t make you look too bitter. Just because Elias regularly eats your lunch and calls you Mike Lindell with tenure and all…

    Better yet, you get to pout about Russian collusion with trump’s campaign in ’16 being proven non existent when that’s clearly a lie just like you always do…

    And then the rehashing of your perpetual fear about the trump pee tapes…, laughable. Orange man paid hookers to pee in a bed he knew Obama slept in. We all know it….

    But no, Turls, you get paid to lie. So there’s that. Sad thing is, it’s only your moronic following here that believes you. So just party on I guess.

    1. Ano
      And then the rehashing of your perpetual fear about the trump pee tapes…, laughable. Orange man paid hookers to pee in a bed he knew Obama slept in. We all know it…
      **************************
      Odd how them tapes were never found.

      Now who is lying.

    2. I am asking a serious question, does anyone read one word after you see the word “Turls”? I know I don’t.

      1. HullBobby,
        Generally not. I read most of the responses like DustOff, yours.
        Also noticed the annony morons seem rather desperate to deflect over the past few days. Could it be they want to deflect from anyone mentioning the massive fraud by various Somalis in Minnesota under failed VP candidate and current governor of Minnesota Tim Walz? The corruption scandal on going in the Ukraine? Trump’s peace deal? The EU trying to force X/Musk into censorship on their authoritarian behalf? The National Security Strategy memo?

  16. The Dems are tribal. Their view of the world is biased by their need to be in power and squash everyony not like them by any means available. They fail to see the flaws in Elias as they fail to see any flaws in themselves. This is pure narcissistic tribalism. This is exactly like the Islam and the Islamic State. Dems have let other tribal groups into the US to help destroy the US Constitution and our rule of law because whatever damage occurs fosters the Democratic agenda. The Somali corruption is a case study on this.

    1. Good comment.

      But this “They fail to see the flaws in Elias . . .” is too generous.

      They see and *embrace* those flaws. They’re a means to their ends: Destruction of the opposition and total power.

    2. No, the Dems clearly see the “flaws” in Elias, and they self-identify with those flaws. Elias is the embodiment of the Democrat lie.

    1. Yes, that’s a fun wish. People on the court would be jockeying for screen time. Buttinski comes to mind with her constant interruptions, “help me understand”.

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