Supreme Court rejects Pennsylvania Republicans' attempt to block election results - CNNPolitics
Category: News & Politics
Via: tig • 4 years ago • 29 commentsBy: Ariane de Vogue and Paul LeBlanc (CNN)
What a surprise.
S E E D E D C O N T E N T
(CNN)The Supreme Court on Tuesday denied a request from Pennsylvania Republicans to block certification of the commonwealth's election results, delivering a near fatal blow to the GOP's long-shot bid to invalidate President-elect Joe Biden's victory.
The Supreme Court's action is a crushing loss for Trump, who has frequently touted the high court's potential to overturn his election loss. Just hours before the court's order was released, Trump made a direct appeal to state officials and members of the Supreme Court to assist him in his efforts to subvert the will of voters, as he continually and falsely suggested there was massive voter fraud during the election. Trump appeals to legislatures and Supreme Court in attempt to overturn the election he lost "Let's see whether or not somebody has the courage, whether it's legislators or legislatures or a justice of the Supreme Court or a number of justices of the Supreme Court," Trump said. "Let's see if they have the courage to do what everybody in this country knows is right." Tuesday's one-line order was issued with no noted dissents or comment from any of the nine justices. The court is made up of six conservative justices -- including Trump's three nominees -- Neil Gorsuch, Brett Kavanaugh and Amy Coney Barrett -- and three liberals. Read More The order marked Barrett's first vote on an election-related dispute. The quick action with no public dissents (justices may choose whether to announce their dissent) is a signal the Supreme Court may not want to get involved in the ongoing Trump challenges, said Steve Vladeck, CNN Supreme Court analyst and University of Texas Law professor. "The fact that the justices issued a one-sentence order with no separate opinions is a powerful sign that the court intends to stay out of election-related disputes, and that it's going to leave things to the electoral process going forward," Vladeck said. "It's hard to imagine a more quietly resounding rejection of these challenges from this court," Vladeck added. Tuesday marks the "safe harbor" deadline for the state under federal law. That means that when Congress tallies the electoral votes in January, it must accept electoral results that were certified before the deadline.
Steep odds for Republicans
The effort from Pennsylvania GOP lawmakers faced steep odds at the Supreme Court, particularly because the dispute turned mostly on issues of state law. The Pennsylvania Supreme Court dismissed the challenge previously, holding that Rep. Mike Kelly and others bringing the suit failed to file their challenge in a timely manner. Judge formally dismisses Michael Flynn case after Trump pardon Lawyers for Kelly argued that the Pennsylvania Supreme Court violated his "right to petition and right to due process, guaranteed by the First and Fourteenth Amendments of the U.S. Constitution, respectively, by closing all avenues of relief for past and future harms." But Pennsylvania officials called the petition "fundamentally frivolous." "No court has ever issued an order nullifying a governor's certification of presidential election results," argued J. Bart Delone, the state's chief deputy attorney general. "The loss of public trust in our constitutional order resulting in this kind of judicial power would be incalculable." The emergency petition from the lawmakers was addressed to Justice Samuel Alito, who has jurisdiction over the Pennsylvania courts. He referred it to the whole court, which issued the order.
Legal losses pile up
Tuesday's action comes after weeks of desperate appeals and baseless conspiracies pushed by the President and his allies that his second term is being stolen. "We will still win it," the President said in Georgia Saturday evening, even though there are no means for him to do so. To this point, the Trump campaign's lawsuits have been dismissed or dropped at a furious pace. And even before Tuesday, there was a sense developing within Trump's legal team that their efforts are coming to an end, multiple sources previously told CNN. While Trump said in a 46-minute video released last week that they would continue to file lawsuits, his legal team has held fewer meetings and strategy calls in the last several days. Still, the President's staunchest defenders on Capitol Hill are urging him not to concede even after Biden wins the Electoral College vote next week, calling on him to battle it out all the way to the House floor in January. This story has been updated with additional information Tuesday.
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When will this sink in?
when these people are Torpedoed, cause it is so beyond ridiculous, if not so serious, it would be down right hilarious. Current Liter ship MUST be sunken, and the GOP just will not corral in their wild won who LOST !
I don't know that it will. It seems that many Republican leaders are supportive of this attempt to overturn the election. When someone in a position of authority, such as a US Senator or Representative, speaks out in support of this movement, their voice carries weight. They should be more careful of the message they're sending, but many are putting party before country.
One thing about trumpism, it puts a lot of their true colours on display.
And they are thus stupid because supporting Trump hurts the R party. They should be distancing themselves from this nutcase.
The thing is, I'm not sure that supporting Trump is hurting the Republican party. It should be, but I'm not sure it is. It seems to be solidifying support from a significant portion of the electorate.
It is splitting the R party into Trump supporters and those who are rational.
Rational seems to be on the low end.
So now Texas is suing to overturn votes in Arizona, Michigan, Pennsylvania and Georgia based on mail in votes. Couldn't New York sue the states Trump won?
It's gone from ridiculous to bizarre to incomprehensible. While the court losses are piling up, Trump is oblivious to that and to the thousands of Americans dying every day on his watch. IMO Trump is trying to bank as much money as possible he will be needing it to pay off the debt coming due after he leaves the presidency. I doubt if any bank would touch him with a 100 foot pole. He is also going to need money to pay for lawyers as he may be the target of numerous lawsuits plus a final decision by the IRS that could him $100 million.
The republicans and Trump really have entered the Twilight Zone.
I hope that what Trump and his Republican supporters are continuing to do will have a lasting effect on all intelligent Republicans and Independents who consider the health of their nation more important than "party politics" and will cause a partial demise of the Republican party in 2022, with a great increase of Democrat representation in both houses of Congress. That would be a lesson too late for the learning. A defeat of both Republicans in the Senate runoff on January 5th would be a sign that my hopes may well come true.
Sooner or later, the real Republicans are going stand up and say something if they don't want their party ruined. I have heard a few already, but there is going to have to be more. I think they are worried about Trump devotes, and so they are waiting until they can figure out how many are in the actual party.
Well, so far McConnell, McCarthy and other dirt bags like Johnson of WI (?) are digging in their heels. These are the people that their constituents need to take a hard look at and ask themselves if they really are doing the will of the people
There's just no there there, it seems.
Imagine how many R partisans have compromised their careers by supporting Trump in this pointless charade.
I don't think it will have much of an impact. Much is being made of it because there's nothing else going on in politics, right now. But after January, this will all fade into distant memory.
I will have a hard time forgetting.
I don't think donald is the type to fade away.
I hope you are wrong. Steps need to be taken to prevent this type of coup attempt from happening again.
Most sane people will. And then there will be the books, magazine pieces, and movies of the week about this con man after he leaves office
There's just no there there, it seems.
It’s there, you just need to look closely.
Double post. Damn you Hugo!!
Republican politicians who are refusing to recognize the election results are NOT doing it to "let the litigation play out" or to let Trump have an opportunity to work out his feelings and get over losing. They are telegraphing that for the Republican Party, democracy is over.
Trump's behavior is becoming more bizarre. Yesterday he walked out of a Gold Medal presentation in the White House.
Nevada Supreme Court dealt Trump another loss last night.
Nevada Supreme Court rejects Trump campaign’s appeal to overturn Biden’s win