States delivermore defeats to president’s legal efforts
The Trumpcampaign and itsRepublican allies lost four legal challenges to the election in four states in a little more than an hour Friday evening as PresidentTrump’s attempts to use the courts to overturn the election results drew ever closer to an end.
The first defeat came around 4:30 p.m. when the Minnesota Supreme Court dismissed a Republican-led petition to stop certification of the state’s voting results because of what the campaign said were improprieties with how officials handled absentee ballots.
Minnesota certified its vote results Nov. 24 and the state’s top court ruled that the effort to derail the process was untimely not only because the petition was filed just hours before certification occurred, but also because the state had set rules for handling absentee ballots more than two months earlier.
Then, a little after 5 p.m., the Michigan Court of Appeals rejected an attempt by Trump to appeal a loss last month in a lower court which had denied his effort to halt the certification of the vote in Wayne County, home to Detroit, after he questioned the validity of absentee ballots there, too. Michigan certified its statewide results Nov. 23, which rendered Trump’s attempt to derail the process moot.
Within minutes, a state judge in Nevada dismissed a lawsuit filed in Carson City last month by several Republican presidential elect or candidates who claimed there was widespread illegal voting in the state and sought a court order to nullify the victory of President- elect Joe Biden in the state and declare Trump the winner.
But after considering de positions from several witnesses, Judge James T. Russell rejected these arguments, writing in an order that he found“nocredible or reliable evidence that the 2020 general election in Nevada was affected by fraud.”
Not long after 6 p.m., the Wisconsin Supreme Court issued Republicans their fourth defeat of the evening. In a scathing order, the court dismissed an attempt by a conservative group, theWisconsin Voters Alliance, to overturn the state’s already certified election results and letWisconsin’s presidential elections be chosen by the state legislature instead.
“Such a move would appear to be unprecedented in American history,” Judge Brian Hagedorn wrote for the court.
“One might expect that this solemn request would be paired with evidence of serious errors tied to a substantial and demonstrated set of illegal votes,” Judge Hagedorn added. “Instead, the evidentiary support rests almost entirely on the unsworn expert report of a former campaign employee that offers statistical estimates based on call center samples and social media
research.”
Finally, a little after 7 p.m., a judge in Phoenix denied a request by Kelli Ward, the chairwoman of the Arizona Republican Party, to invalidate the results of that state’s election.
Ward had claimed there was widespread illegal voting in the state. But after a two-day hearing earlier this week Judge Randall H. Warner disagreed, writing in an order, “The court finds no misconduct, no fraud, and no effect on the outcome of the election.”
Nowonly a handful of lawsuits and emergency petitions challenging the election remain in the courts, among thema requestby MikeKelly, a Republican congressman from Pennsylvania, for the Supreme Court to hear his appeal of a lawsuit seeking to invalidate the results of the state’s election results.
Thereareat least twomore state cases still alive in Georgia and a federal case in Milwaukee. SidneyPowell, a formerlawyer forTrumpwhom the campaignhas disavowed, also has four more federal cases — in Georgia, Wisconsin, Michigan and Arizona — alleging conspiracies to tilt the election by manipulating voting machines.