{"id":8267,"date":"2020-12-12T08:45:47","date_gmt":"2020-12-12T13:45:47","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/esterlund.com\/blog\/?p=8267"},"modified":"2020-12-12T08:45:47","modified_gmt":"2020-12-12T13:45:47","slug":"supreme-court-rejects-texas-lawsuit-challenging-bidens-victory-the-new-york-times","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/esterlund.com\/blog\/supreme-court-rejects-texas-lawsuit-challenging-bidens-victory-the-new-york-times\/","title":{"rendered":"Supreme Court Rejects Texas Lawsuit Challenging Biden&#8217;s Victory &#8211; The New York Times"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2020\/12\/11\/us\/politics\/supreme-court-election-texas.html\"><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter\" src=\"http:\/\/esterlund.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/merlin_180576321_5869d725-8395-48e7-9e70-5082f6c77ffe-articleLarge.jpg\" alt=\"The Supreme Court received more than a dozen friend-of-the-court briefs and motions seeking to intervene.\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>Source: <em><a href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2020\/12\/11\/us\/politics\/supreme-court-election-texas.html\">Supreme Court Rejects Texas Lawsuit Challenging Biden&#8217;s Victory &#8211; The New York Times<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n<div>\n<header class=\"css-z40kjo euiyums1\">\n<div class=\"css-18e8msd\">\n<ul class=\"css-1u1psjv epjyd6m3\">\n<li class=\"css-ccw2r3 epjyd6m1\"><time class=\"css-ld3wwf e16638kd2\" datetime=\"2020-12-12T00:02:08-05:00\"><span class=\"css-233int e16638kd4\">Updated\u00a0Dec. 12, 2020,\u00a0<span class=\"css-epvm6\">12:02 a.m. ET<\/span><\/span><\/time><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/div>\n<\/header>\n<\/div>\n<section class=\"meteredContent css-1r7ky0e\">\n<div class=\"css-1fanzo5 StoryBodyCompanionColumn\">\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-158dogj evys1bk0\">WASHINGTON \u2014 The Supreme Court on Friday rejected a lawsuit by Texas that had asked the court to throw out the election results in four battleground states that President Trump lost in November, ending any prospect that a brazen attempt to use the courts to reverse his defeat at the polls would succeed.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-158dogj evys1bk0\">The court, in\u00a0<a class=\"css-1g7m0tk\" title=\"\" href=\"https:\/\/www.supremecourt.gov\/orders\/courtorders\/121120zr_p860.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">a brief unsigned order<\/a>, said Texas lacked standing to pursue the case, saying it \u201chas not demonstrated a judicially cognizable interest in the manner in which another state conducts its elections.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-158dogj evys1bk0\">The order, coupled with another one on Tuesday turning away a similar request from Pennsylvania Republicans, signaled that a conservative court with three justices appointed by Mr. Trump refused to be drawn into the extraordinary effort by the president and many prominent members of his party to deny his Democratic opponent, former Vice President Joseph R. Biden Jr., his victory.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-158dogj evys1bk0\">It was the latest and most significant setback for Mr. Trump in a litigation campaign that was rejected by courts at every turn.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"><\/aside>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"css-8atqhb\"><\/div>\n<div class=\"css-1fanzo5 StoryBodyCompanionColumn\">\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-158dogj evys1bk0\">Texas\u2019 lawsuit, filed directly in the Supreme Court, challenged election procedures in four states: Georgia, Michigan, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin. It asked the court to bar those states from casting their electoral votes for Mr. Biden and to shift the selection of electors to the states\u2019 legislatures. That would have required the justices to throw out millions of votes.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-158dogj evys1bk0\">Mr. Trump has said he expected to prevail in the Supreme Court, after rushing the confirmation of Justice Amy Coney Barrett in October in part in the hope that she would vote in Mr. Trump\u2019s favor in election disputes.<\/p>\n<div class=\"css-16l7vy9\" data-testid=\"inline-message\" aria-live=\"polite\">\n<div>\n<div class=\"css-1od6ynp\"><\/div>\n<ul>\n<li>Help our journalists make an impact.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><a class=\"css-1h74mhy\" role=\"button\" href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/subscription?campaignId=9RK8Q\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" data-testid=\"inline-message\">Support The Times. Subscribe.<\/a><\/p>\n<div class=\"css-16858bh\"><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p class=\"css-158dogj evys1bk0\">\u201cI think this will end up in the Supreme Court,\u201d Mr. Trump\u00a0<a class=\"css-1g7m0tk\" title=\"\" href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2020\/09\/23\/us\/elections\/trump-supreme-court-election-day.html\">said of the election<\/a>\u00a0a few days after\u00a0<a class=\"css-1g7m0tk\" title=\"\" href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2020\/09\/18\/us\/ruth-bader-ginsburg-dead.html\">Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg\u2019s death<\/a>\u00a0in September. \u201cAnd I think it\u2019s very important that we have nine justices.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-158dogj evys1bk0\">He was right that an election dispute would end up in the Supreme Court. But he was quite wrong to think the court, even after he appointed a third of its members, would do his bidding. And with the Electoral College set to meet on Monday, Mr. Trump\u2019s efforts to change the outcome of the election will soon be at an end.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-158dogj evys1bk0\"><strong>Mr. Trump\u2019s campaign did not immediately issue a statement. In an appearance on the conservative network Newsmax soon after the decision was announced, Rudolph W. Giuliani, Mr. Trump\u2019s personal lawyer, said that the campaign\u2019s legal effort would continue, insisting that his team had originally planned for \u201cfour or five separate cases.\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"css-1fanzo5 StoryBodyCompanionColumn\">\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-158dogj evys1bk0\"><strong>\u201cWe\u2019re not finished, believe me,\u201d he said with a laugh at the end of the interview.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p class=\"css-158dogj evys1bk0\"><strong>The president, who at a White House Hanukkah party earlier in the week eagerly mentioned the pending court case in his remarks, was scheduled to attend another holiday party around the time the ruling came down. But around 8:30 p.m., guests were informed that Mr. Trump would not be coming down from the residence to speak.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p class=\"css-158dogj evys1bk0\"><strong>Mr. Trump weighed in later on Twitter. \u201cThe Supreme Court really let us down,\u201d he said. \u201cNo Wisdom, No Courage!\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n<p class=\"css-158dogj evys1bk0\">Friday\u2019s order was not quite unanimous. Justice Samuel A. Alito Jr., joined by Justice Clarence Thomas, issued a brief statement on a technical point. But it was nonetheless a comprehensive rebuke to Mr. Trump and his allies. It was plain that the justices had no patience for Texas\u2019 attempt to enlist the court in an effort to tell other states how to run their elections.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-158dogj evys1bk0\">The majority ruled that Texas could not file its lawsuit at all. \u201cThe state of Texas\u2019 motion for leave to file a bill of complaint is denied for lack of standing,\u201d the court\u2019s order said.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-158dogj evys1bk0\">Justice Alito, taking a slightly different approach, wrote that the court was not free immediately to shut down lawsuits filed by states directly in the court. \u201cIn my view,\u201d he wrote, \u201cwe do not have discretion to deny the filing of a bill of complaint in a case that falls within our original jurisdiction.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-158dogj evys1bk0\">But that was as far as those two justices were willing to go. \u201cI would therefore grant the motion to file the bill of complaint but would not grant other relief,\u201d Justice Alito wrote, \u201cand I express no view on any other issue.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-158dogj evys1bk0\">Some of Mr. Trump\u2019s advisers had anticipated the court would give the president and the Republican attorneys general something that could be characterized as supportive, in the form of a dissent or a lengthy commentary. Instead, there was simply the brief statement from the two justices.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"css-1fanzo5 StoryBodyCompanionColumn\">\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-158dogj evys1bk0\">Mike Gwin, a spokesman for the Biden campaign, said the Supreme Court had \u201cdecisively and speedily rejected the latest of Donald Trump and his allies\u2019 attacks on the democratic process.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-158dogj evys1bk0\">\u201cPresident-elect Biden\u2019s clear and commanding victory will be ratified by the Electoral College on Monday, and he will be sworn in on Jan. 20,\u201d Mr. Gwin said.<\/p>\n<div class=\"css-y1f5ai\" role=\"complementary\" aria-labelledby=\"storyline-latest-updates\">\n<div class=\"css-8atqhb\">\n<div class=\"css-nl7gl3\">The Presidential Transition<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p class=\"css-158dogj evys1bk0\">Despite the court ruling, Mr. Trump\u2019s campaign plans to continue describing the election outcome as illegitimate. On Friday night, it announced that it would be running ads on YouTube, which has started accepting political ads again after a moratorium, making that very case.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-158dogj evys1bk0\">In the Texas case, the Supreme Court received more than a dozen friend-of-the-court briefs and motions seeking to intervene, from Mr. Trump, from coalitions of liberal and conservative states, from politicians and from scholars.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-158dogj evys1bk0\">Among them was\u00a0<a class=\"css-1g7m0tk\" title=\"\" href=\"https:\/\/www.supremecourt.gov\/DocketPDF\/22\/22O155\/163403\/20201210153048641_Texas%20v.%20Pennsylvania%20Amicus%20Brief%20of%20106%20Representatives.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">a brief<\/a>\u00a0filed by\u00a0<a class=\"css-1g7m0tk\" title=\"\" href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2020\/12\/11\/us\/politics\/republicans-trump-election-lawsuit.html\">more than 100 House Republicans<\/a>\u00a0who fell in line to claim that the general election \u2014 the same one in which most of them were re-elected \u2014 had been \u201criddled with an unprecedented number of serious allegations of fraud and irregularities.\u201d More than a dozen Republican state attorneys general\u00a0<a class=\"css-1g7m0tk\" title=\"\" href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2020\/12\/09\/us\/politics\/trump-texas-supreme-court-lawsuit.html?action=click&amp;module=Top%20Stories&amp;pgtype=Homepage\">expressed similar support<\/a>\u00a0on Wednesday.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-158dogj evys1bk0\">Legal experts almost universally dismissed Texas\u2019 suit as an unbecoming stunt. In invoking the Supreme Court\u2019s \u201coriginal jurisdiction,\u201d Texas asked the justices to act as a trial court to settle a dispute between states, a procedure theoretically possible under the Constitution but employed sparingly, typically in cases concerning water rights or boundary disputes.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-158dogj evys1bk0\">In a series of briefs filed Thursday, the four states that Texas sought to sue condemned the effort. \u201cThe court should not abide this seditious abuse of the judicial process, and should send a clear and unmistakable signal that such abuse must never be replicated,\u201d\u00a0<a class=\"css-1g7m0tk\" title=\"\" href=\"https:\/\/www.supremecourt.gov\/DocketPDF\/22\/22O155\/163367\/20201210142206254_Pennsylvania%20Opp%20to%20Bill%20of%20Complaint%20v.FINAL.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">a brief for Pennsylvania<\/a> said.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"css-1fanzo5 StoryBodyCompanionColumn\">\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-158dogj evys1bk0\">On Friday morning, Texas\u2019 attorney general, Ken Paxton, responded with\u00a0<a class=\"css-1g7m0tk\" title=\"\" href=\"https:\/\/www.supremecourt.gov\/DocketPDF\/22\/22O155\/163492\/20201211095715842_TX-v-State-MPI-Reply-2020-12-11.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">his own brief<\/a>. \u201cWhatever Pennsylvania\u2019s definition of sedition,\u201d he wrote, \u201cmoving this court to cure grave threats to Texas\u2019 right of suffrage in the Senate and its citizens\u2019 rights of suffrage in presidential elections upholds the Constitution, which is the very opposite of sedition.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-158dogj evys1bk0\">Claims that the election was tainted by widespread fraud\u00a0<a class=\"css-1g7m0tk\" title=\"\" href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2020\/12\/01\/us\/politics\/william-barr-voter-fraud.html\">have been debunked<\/a>\u00a0by Mr. Trump\u2019s own attorney general, William P. Barr, who said this month that the Justice Department had uncovered no voting fraud \u201con a scale that could have effected a different outcome in the election.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-158dogj evys1bk0\">Some 20 states led by Democrats, in a brief supporting the four battleground states,\u00a0<a class=\"css-1g7m0tk\" title=\"\" href=\"https:\/\/www.supremecourt.gov\/DocketPDF\/22\/22O155\/163379\/20201210144443769_Texas%20v.%20Pennsylvania%20-%20Motion%20and%20Br.%20of%20Amici%20DC%20et%20al.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">urged the Supreme Court<\/a>\u00a0\u201cto reject Texas\u2019 last-minute attempt to throw out the results of an election decided by the people and securely overseen and certified by its sister states.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-158dogj evys1bk0\">Georgia, which Mr. Biden won by\u00a0<a class=\"css-1g7m0tk\" title=\"\" href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/interactive\/2020\/11\/03\/us\/elections\/results-georgia.html\">less than 12,000 votes<\/a>\u00a0out of nearly five million cast, said in\u00a0<a class=\"css-1g7m0tk\" title=\"\" href=\"https:\/\/www.supremecourt.gov\/DocketPDF\/22\/22O155\/163383\/20201210145849997_Georgia%20--%20Brief%20in%20Opposition.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">its brief<\/a>\u00a0that it had handled its election with integrity and care. \u201cThis election cycle,\u201d the brief said, \u201cGeorgia did what the Constitution empowered it to do: it implemented processes for the election, administered the election in the face of logistical challenges brought on by Covid-19, and confirmed and certified the election results \u2014 again and again and again. Yet Texas has sued Georgia anyway.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-158dogj evys1bk0\">Starting even before Election Day, Mr. Trump and his Republican allies have filed nearly five dozen challenges to the handling, casting and counting of votes in courts in at least eight different states.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-158dogj evys1bk0\">They generally lost those cases, often drawing blistering rebukes from the judges who heard them. Along the way Mr. Trump has not come close to overturning the election results in a single state, let alone the minimum of three he would need to seize victory from Mr. Biden.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-158dogj evys1bk0\">The first batch of actions preceded the election and sought to end or pare back voting measures that states across the country had put in place to deal with the coronavirus crisis. In Texas, for instance, Republicans pursued a failed effort in federal court to stop drive-through voting in Harris County, home to Houston. A similar move was made in Pennsylvania to stop the state from accepting mail-in ballots received after Election Day.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"css-1fanzo5 StoryBodyCompanionColumn\">\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-158dogj evys1bk0\">Mr. Trump and his allies switched tactics after the election, filing a barrage of suits in Nevada, Arizona, Pennsylvania, Michigan, Wisconsin, Minnesota and Georgia claiming that all manner of fraud had compromised the vote results.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-158dogj evys1bk0\">They made accusations that truckloads of illegal ballots were brought in under cover of darkness to a convention center in Detroit; that poll workers in Atlanta were given suitcases full of fake ballots for Mr. Biden; that Iran and China, working with local elections officials, had hacked into and manipulated algorithms in voting machines.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-158dogj evys1bk0\">While some of these claims were supported by sworn statements from witnesses, judge after judge in case after case ruled that the evidence was not persuasive, credible or anywhere near enough to give Mr. Trump the extraordinary relief he requested: a judicial order overturning the results of an election.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-158dogj evys1bk0\">What is left is a judicial mopping-up exercise. Several suits that the president and his supporters have lost in lower courts are now on appeal, in both the state and federal systems, but the appellate process is quickly running up against a crucial deadline on Monday when the Electoral College meets and Mr. Biden is expected to prevail in the voting, all but sealing the results of the election.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-pncxxs etfikam0\">Alan Feuer and Maggie Haberman contributed reporting from New York, and Chris Cameron from Washington.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/section>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Source: Supreme Court Rejects Texas Lawsuit Challenging Biden&#8217;s Victory &#8211; The New York Times Updated\u00a0Dec. 12, 2020,\u00a012:02 a.m. ET WASHINGTON \u2014 The Supreme Court on Friday rejected a lawsuit by Texas that had asked the court to throw out the election results in four battleground states that President Trump lost in November, ending any prospect &hellip; <a href=\"https:\/\/esterlund.com\/blog\/supreme-court-rejects-texas-lawsuit-challenging-bidens-victory-the-new-york-times\/\" class=\"more-link\">Continue reading <span class=\"screen-reader-text\">Supreme Court Rejects Texas Lawsuit Challenging Biden&#8217;s Victory &#8211; The New York Times<\/span> <span class=\"meta-nav\">&rarr;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[53,13,6],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/esterlund.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8267"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/esterlund.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/esterlund.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/esterlund.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/esterlund.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=8267"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/esterlund.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8267\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":8269,"href":"https:\/\/esterlund.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8267\/revisions\/8269"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/esterlund.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8267"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/esterlund.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=8267"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/esterlund.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=8267"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}