United States Supreme Court rejected a bid from Texas’ attorney general — supported by President Donald Trump — to block the ballots of millions of voters in battleground states that went in favor of President-elect Joe Biden.
The court’s move to dismiss the challenge is the strongest indication yet that Trump has no chance of overturning election results in court that even the justices whom he placed there have no interest in allowing his desperate legal bids to continue.
The lawsuit, brought by Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton, a staunch Trump ally, sought to sue Pennsylvania, Michigan, Georgia and Wisconsin — which all went for Biden — and invalidate their election results. And this week, with his options narrowing, Trump, accompanied by the support of several Republican attorneys general and GOP lawmakers, cranked up pressure to have the Supreme Court weigh in.
Trump and his legal team — hamstrung by a series of coronavirus diagnoses among lawyers who had traveled across the country advocating on behalf of Trump’s case — have for weeks pushed increasingly desperate appeals and baseless conspiracy theories about his second term being stolen.
The court did not provide a vote count, but there were no dissents to the order made public, the CNN reported on Friday.
Separately, justices Samuel Alito and Clarence Thomas said they would have allowed the case to be filed, but would grant no other relief.
For the past five weeks, federal and state courts have rejected most of Trump’s attempts thoroughly.
Hastily-written filings have contained a multitude of elementary errors. Many of the pro-Trump arguments hinged on what was ultimately hearsay or conjecture. And in many of the cases, Trump backers have said they don’t have evidence proving their allegations yet, but want to review ballots or confidential elections data more closely to see if they can find proof of fraud.
And though Trump has refused to move on, those closest to him — including the legal team and his family — are working on their next steps.
Multiple sources told CNN earlier this week that Trump’s legal team and inside what remains of his campaign staff have been sensing that efforts to overturn or delay the results of the election are coming to an end. White House staffers are resigning or are out the door, and members of Trump’s Cabinet have also begun meeting with their Biden administration counterparts.
First lady Melania Trump, meanwhile, has begun overseeing shipments of family furniture and art to Mar-a-Lago. And Ivanka Trump and Jared Kushner are in the final stages of purchasing a plot of land within a Miami enclave known for its privacy and high net worth residents.
CNN.
