DNC's Hacking Suit Is a Missed Opportunity

The Democratic National Committee’s lawsuit against President Donald Trump, his presidential campaign, WikiLeaks and the Russian Federation1524338189456 had barely been filed before the first fundraising email hit my inbox. The party was bragging about the litigation, how this bold stroke would fix Trump, fix what’s wrong with democracy, and put two apple pies in every garage. But reading over the 66-page complaint, filed Friday in federal district court in New York, one can hardly avoid being saddened at what might have been. The case could have provided the opportunity to resolve a vexing legal problem about liability for hacking. Instead, the DNC preferred a publicity stunt.

Although the complaint includes a handful of details that don’t seem to have been previously reported, it nevertheless reads less like a legal document than like a poorly sourced magazine story. The suit is unlikely to survive a motion to dismiss, in part because the tangled conspiracy theory it presents is not (to use law-speak) properly pleaded, and in part because much of the complaint’s substance consists of what lawyers call conclusory allegations.1524338209327 Whether the theory that Trump colluded is true makes no difference; the theory doesn’t work as a lawsuit. But, as my inbox suggests, the point of the suit isn’t to win. It’s to stir up the base.