Democrat election attorney Marc Elias is supporting the “Stop Cop City” referendum to prevent the construction of the Atlanta Public Safety Training Facility where a protester shot a Georgia State Trooper in January, a Wednesday report confirms.
Elias (pictured above) decided to throw “his political weight behind a proposed ordinance that aims to upend Atlanta’s petition review process,” according to Atlanta Black Star. The petition review process memo was sent by the Vote To Stop Cop City Coalition, reported Mother Jones.
The lawyer, who has built his career on partisan litigation against election laws and regulations that do not benefit Democratic candidates, reportedly supported the memo calling for Atlanta city officials to drop their plans to use a “signature matching” process which requires petition signatures to be verified using another public signature source. Activists claim the matching process employed by the city has been discredited, and will unfairly eliminate signatures.
Activists delivered their petition signatures to city officials in September, but a legal conflict left the city unwilling to examine the documents without guidance from the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals. The delay was caused by a legal decision that briefly gave activists an additional 60 days to collect signatures, which was ultimately overruled by the higher court.
City officials eventually determined to scan and upload the petitions online for public review, revealing a number of duplicate signatures and signatures from individuals who do not reside in Atlanta.
After the petition signatures were submitted , a September poll suggested just 12 percent of Georgia voters support the petition, while 60 percent of respondents said they were in favor of the training center’s construction.
Elias’ decision to support the movement against the public safety training center puts him at odds with Atlanta Mayor Andre Dickens (D), who is part of President Joe Biden’s re-election campaign, and many elected to the city’s “majority-Democrat city council,” Mother Jones reported. However, he finds himself aligned with other Georgia Democrats, including Senator Raphael Warnock (D-GA).
Both the Biden administration and the Democratic National Committee (DNC) both reportedly severed their relationships with Elias sometime in 2023, with the Democrats reportedly growing frustrated with Elias’ penchant for legal actions that are “emotionally satisfying and make for good headlines” but can backfire in court, according to Axios. The outlet also reported that Biden’s “team” grew increasingly “frustrated by Elias’ big bills,” and would sometimes only learn of new court cases launched by Elias by checking Twitter or watching MSNBC.
Prior to his departure, Elias had reportedly worked for the DNC since 2009. By April 2023, he had received “over $1.9 million” from the party in the current political cycle.
Radio and television host Steve Bannon warned his audience in 2021 that Elias is “pure evil,” “smart,” and “tough.” Bannon explained that Elias is “crazy, but he’s a fighter.”
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Tom Pappert is the lead reporter for The Tennessee Star, and also reports for The Georgia Star News, The Virginia Star, and The Arizona Sun Times. Follow Tom on X/Twitter. Email tips to [email protected].
Photo “Marc Elias” by Elias Law Group.
