U.S. JUDGE CASTS DOUBT ON TRUMP’S WISCONSIN LAWSUIT
Jurist stunned that president’s lawyers didn’t file before vote
MADISON, W is. A federal judge Thursday cast doubt on President Donald Trump’s lawsuit that seeks to overturn Joe Biden’s win in Wisconsin, declaring it “incredible” that Trump didn’t raise the issues before the election and that siding with him would be “the most remarkable ruling in the history of this court or the federal judiciary.”
Trump is pursuing extraordinary attempts to overturn Biden’s win with a pair of lawsuits in Wisconsin, in federal and state courts. In the state case, Trump wants to disqualify more than 221,000 ballots and in the federal case he wants to give the GOP-controlled Legislature the power to name Trump the winner.
U.S. District Judge Brett Ludwig, a Trump appointee, marveled at the request at Thursday’s hearing. Ludwig said he hoped to rule in the next couple of days.
Trump’s attorneys are urging the courts to act quickly so he can appeal any ruling before members of the Electoral College meet on Monday and cast Wisconsin’s 10 votes for Biden.
“It’s not lost on me that this is a political case, obviously, and that the relief that’s been requested, if that relief were granted, this would be a most remarkable proceeding and probably the most remarkable ruling in the history of this court or the federal judiciary,” Ludwig said.
Ludwig had previously called the Trump request “bizarre” and “very odd.” On Thursday, he asked Trump’s attorneys why the lawsuit wasn’t filed before the election.
“The response that I heard today was the plaintiffs had too much going on, they couldn’t pay attention to what issues were being raised in the state of Wisconsin,” Ludwig said. “That strikes me as incredible.”
Trump’s attorney Bill Bock said some of the issues they were challenging, such as the installation of ballot drop boxes, didn’t happen until mid-October.
Bock argued that the election wasn’t run properly and that the risks of voter fraud were increased because ballot drop boxes were not staffed, voting by mail was widely used and voters who said they were indefinitely confined were allowed to cast absentee ballots without showing a valid photo ID.
Jeff Mandell, attorney for Democratic Gov. Tony Evers, said the request to overturn the election was unheard of, without merit, and should be dismissed.
Attorneys for Evers and the Wisconsin Elections Commission asked Ludwig to dismiss the case, arguing it belonged in state court, not federal. Ludwig called that issue “very challenging, interesting and unique.”
Biden won Wisconsin by about 20,600 votes. Those certified results, which came after a Trump-ordered recount in the state’s two largest Democratic counties, were then challenged by Trump in the two lawsuits he filed in Wisconsin.