Judge orders far-right Republican to pay legal costs in Arizona election lawsuit

Mark Finchem, who ran for secretary of state, was rebuked by the court for his ‘groundless’ claims of fraud in loss to Adrian Fontes

Mark Finchem, the extremist Republican and longtime member of the Oath Keepers anti-government militia group, has been slapped with penalties for his “groundless” lawsuit seeking to overturn his loss in the election to become Arizona’s secretary of state.

Maricopa county superior court judge Melissa Iyer Julian had already thrown out a lawsuit brought by Finchem in which the rightwinger claimed that electoral fraud had cost him victory when he was defeated in November’s midterm elections by Democrat Adrian Fontes.