Trump’s bid to overturn election results denied
Ruling blocks Trumps path to reverse his defeat
Supreme Court dismisses a long-shot bid by the president and Texas to overturn the results in four states won by Biden./
The Supreme Court Friday dismissed a longshot bid by President Donald Trump and the state of Texas to overturn the results in four states won by Democrat Joe Biden, blocking the president's legal path to reverse his reelection loss.
The court's unsigned order was short: “Texas has not demonstrated a judicially cognizable interest in the manner in which another state conducts its elections. All other pending motions are dismissed as moot.”
Justices Samuel Alito Jr. and Clarence Thomas said they did not believe the court had the authority to simply reject Texas's request.”i would therefore grant the motion to file the bill of complaint but would not grant other relief, and I express no view on any other issue.”
Trump has long viewed the Supreme Court as something of an ace-inthe-hole, and called for the justices to display “courage” and rescue him in post-election litigation.
In a case earlier this week, the court turned down a request from Republican congressional candidates to overturn the results in Pennsylvania in a one-sentence order. Justice Amy Coney Barrett took part in the case, but neither she nor fellow Trump appointees Neil Gorsuch or Brett Kavanaugh noted their objection.
Trump has refused to acknowledge defeat, instead embarking on a campaign to discredit the election. He has made unproven charges of corruption and a rigged election in states he lost and unsubstantiated claims of illegal voting, votes switched by computer software and fraud.
None have come close to being proven, and Attorney General William Barr said U.S. attorneys and FBI agents “have not seen fraud on a scale that could have effected a different outcome in the election.”
Legal efforts by Trump and his allies filed in states he lost have been unsuccessful — one minor win compared to more than 50 losses in state and federal courts at both the trial and appellate level.
The election results have been certified in each state, and the electoral college is scheduled to meet Monday. Biden has 306 electoral votes and a popular vote margin of more than 7 million votes.
Texas, led by Trump partisan Attorney General Ken Paxton, a Republican, tried to maneuver around the lower court losses by filing directly with the Supreme Court. States suing other states are allowed to ask the court to take up the case, although the court sometimes does not grant permission.
Trump tweeted it was the “big one” that “everyone has been waiting for.”
Texas charged that actions by state officials in Pennsylvania, Georgia, Michigan and Wisconsin violated the Constitution, and diluted the impact of Texas voters.
Its major complaint was state officials and courts in those states had changed election procedures to make it easier to vote by mail or other methods. It said that violated the Constitution's direction that “the legislature” of each state set voting procedures.
It asked the justices to block those states from casting their combined 62 electoral votes for Biden and order the state legislatures to appoint either new electors or none at all. That would require the court to set aside the results in those states.