New Supreme Court filing has blatantly wrong information about Michigan
A long-shot legal effort relying on conspiracy theories and inaccurate analyses to argue President Donald Trump actually won Michigan included additional blatantly false information in a new filing with the U.S. Supreme Court this week.
The legal team, including attorney Sidney Powell, told the court the Republican-controlled Michigan Legislature backs its effort to allow a so-called GOP slate of Electoral College delegates cast the state’s 16 electoral votes for Trump.
This is wrong. On Monday, Republican leaders of the Michigan House and Senate publicly acknowledged President-elect Joe Biden won the election. The same day, the state’s actual 16 Electoral College delegates voted for Biden, who received 154,000 more votes than Trump in Michigan.
It’s unlikely the Supreme Court will take up this or any of the legal claims from Powell and her team. Powell previously appeared at news conferences with Rudy Giuliani and other Trump attorneys, but the campaign has since sought to distance itself from her.
Gregory Rohl, a Michigan attorney working with Powell, did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Wednesday.
The group of Republicans who incorrectly argue they can cast electoral votes for Trump were not allowed into the state Capitol on Monday. Powell and her team represent several people who would have served as GOP delegates to the Electoral College had Trump won Michigan.
Powell and her team want the high court to review an appeal of a lawsuit recently rejected in a Detroit federal court. Their lawsuit relies on a litany of debunked theories, including allegations of an international conspiracy to steal the election from Trump.
U.S. District Judge Linda Parker, based in Detroit, previously rejected their request to force Gov. Gretchen Whitmer to award the state’s electoral votes to Trump.
On Friday, Powell and her team asked the Supreme Court to take up their case before a federal appellate court had the chance to rule, arguing their needs are so urgent that the high court should ignore legal norms and decide the case immediately.
The team sent an additional filing to the Supreme Court Tuesday, highlighting efforts by Republicans to cast electoral votes for Trump in states he did not win and a deeply flawed analysis of voting machines in Antrim County.
At one point, the filing states: “On December 14, 2020, the Republican majority State legislatures of Arizona, Georgia, Michigan and Wisconsin exercised their plenary authority under the U.S. Constitution’s Electors Clause by permitting the full slate of Republican nominees to cast their electoral votes for President Donald J. Trump on a contingent basis.”
In another portion, the filing states: “Republican slates of electors have received the endorsement of the Republican-majority legislatures in each of these States, as reflected in the decision for them to cast (or attempting to cast) their slate of electoral votes.”
None of this is true.
There is no endorsement from the Michigan Legislature. On Monday, both House Speaker Lee Chatfield, R-Levering, and Senate Majority Leader Mike Shirkey, R-Clarklake, said the election is over and Biden won the state.
The so-called slate of GOP electors was refused access to the Capitol on Monday. The Capitol was closed because of both COVID-19 and other safety concerns.
In their legal filing, Powell and her team acknowledge the so-called electors were not let into the building. They say their votes were dutifully cast “on the grounds of the state Capitol.”
They also included a review of voting machines in Antrim County. An issue in unofficial reporting initially showed Biden won the traditionally conservative county in northern Michigan. Though the error was fixed, it has prompted a massive number of conspiracies touted by Trump and his supporters.