The US Supreme Court rejects a Trump-backed trial in Texas that challenges the election result
The U.S. Supreme Court on Friday abruptly ended a lengthy lawsuit filed by Texas and backed by President Donald Trump, who sought to overturn voting results in four states, giving him a crushing setback in his bid to undo his presidential election loss. Select Joe Biden.
The judges in a brief decision rejected Texas’ offer to present the extraordinary challenge to Georgia, Michigan, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin directly to the Supreme Court, which is allowed in some cases of disputes between states under a legal doctrine called “original jurisdiction.”
The order said Texas did not have a legal position to claim.
“Texas has not shown a legally tangible interest in how another state conducts its elections,” the court said in the unsigned order.
Two of the court’s conservatives, Justice Samuel Alito and Justice Clarence Thomas, said they would have allowed Texas to sue but would not have blocked the four states from completing their election results.
The case was filed Tuesday by the Republican attorney in Texas, an ally of Trump, against Georgia, Michigan, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin. On Wednesday, the Republican president submitted a request to intervene and become a plaintiff.
The suit was supported by 106 Republican lawmakers and 18 state attorneys.
The four states in an application to the court on Thursday asked the judges to dismiss the trial, which they said had no factual or legal grounds.
The Trump campaign and his allies had already lost in many lawsuits in state and federal courts challenging the election results. Trump has wrongly claimed that he won the November 3 election and has made baseless allegations of widespread voting fraud and a system “rigged” against him. State election officials have said they have not found any evidence of such fraud. Lawyers for Trump and his allies have failed to present evidence in court for the type of fraud he has alleged.
Texas has asked judges to overturn the election results in the four states. Biden won all four states. Trump had won them in the 2016 election.
The four states in an application to the court on Thursday asked the judges to dismiss the trial, which they said had no factual or legal grounds.
( Jowharwith REUTERS and AFP)
