Trump loses Wisconsin case, argues another

MADISON, Wis. — President Donald Trump lost a federal lawsuit Saturday while his attorney was arguing his case before a skeptical Wisconsin Supreme Court in another lawsuit that liberal justices said “smacks of racism” and would disenfranchise hundreds of thousands of voters only in the state’s most diverse counties.

U.S. District Judge Brett Ludwig, a Trump appointee, dismissed Trump’s federal lawsuit asking the court to order the Republican-controlled Legislature to name Trump the winner over Democrat Joe Biden.

The judge said Trump’s arguments “fail as amatter of law and fact.”

The ruling came as Trump attorney Jim Troupis faced a barrage of questions about his claims from both liberal and conservative justices on the Wisconsin Supreme Court.

Troupis asked the court to toss more than 221,000 absentee ballots, including his own, saying theywere cast fraudulently based on incorrect interpretations of the law by elections officials.

Conservative justices appeared to be sympathetic to some issues raised by Trump, but also questioned how they could fairly disqualify ballots only in the two counties where Trump sought a recount and not other counties where the same procedures were followed.

Biden attorney John Devaney said tossing any ballots in just those two counties would be a violation of the Constitution’s equal protection clause.

Trump is challenging ballots only in Milwaukee and Dane counties, the state’s most liberal counties with the largest nonwhite populations. He’s not challenging any votes in more conservative counties where he won.

“This lawsuit, Mr. Troupis, smacks of racism,” liberal Justice Jill Karofsky said. “I do not know how you can come before this court and possibly ask for a remedy that is unheard of in U.S. history. … It is not normal.”

Biden won Wisconsin by about 20,600 votes, amargin of 0.6 percent.

Biden’s attorney asked the court to rule before Monday, when Wisconsin’s 10 Electoral College votes are scheduled to be cast for Biden.