Washington: President Donald Trump wants the US Supreme Court to weigh in on a presidential race that is still too close to call. However, according to legal experts the US Supreme Court may not be able to say Trump. The experts opined that the court may not entertain Trump’s plea to stop the counting of ballots that were received before or on Election Day. The court also might not handle the trajectory of the race in closely fought states such as Michigan and Pennsylvania.
Ballots were still being counted in many states of the US in the early hours of Wednesday morning when Trump made an appearance at the White House. He then falsely declared victory against Democratic challenger Joe Biden.
Trump railed against voting by mail during the election campaign. He had said without providing evidence that it led to ‘fraud’, which is rare in US elections. Sticking to that theme, Trump said Wednesday: “This is a major fraud on our nation. We want the law to be used in a proper manner. So we’ll be going to the US Supreme Court. We want all voting to stop.” Trump did not provide any evidence to back up his claim of fraud or detail what litigation he would pursue at the Supreme Court.
The Trump campaign and other Republicans have also filed various complaints in other states. Among them is an attempt to stop votes being counted in Michigan.
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However, legal experts said that while there could be objections to particular ballots or voting and counting procedures, it was unclear if such disputes would determine the final outcome.
Ned Foley is an election law expert at Ohio State University. He pointed out that the current election does not have the ingredients that would create a situation like in the 2000 presidential race. It was then the Supreme Court ended a recount in George W Bush’s favour against Democrat Al Gore.
“It’s extremely early on. But at the moment it doesn’t seem apparent how this would end up where the US Supreme Court would be decisive,” Foley said.
Both Republicans and Democrats have amassed armies of lawyers ready to go to the mat in a close race. Biden’s team includes Marc Elias, a top election attorney at the firm Perkins Coie, and former Solicitors General Donald Verrilli and Walter Dellinger. Trump’s lawyers include Matt Morgan, the president’s campaign general counsel, Supreme Court litigator William Consovoy, and Justin Clark, senior counsel to the campaign.
Trump attorney Jenna Ellis defended Trump’s bid to challenge the vote count and evaluate his legal options. “If we have to go through these legal challenges, then that’s not unprecedented,” Ellis told ‘Fox Business Network’ in an interview. “He wants to make sure that the election is not stolen,” Ellis added.
The Supreme Court previously declined to fast-track an appeal by Republicans. But three conservative justices left open the possibility of taking up the case again after Election Day. Even if the court were to take up the case and rule for Republicans, it may not determine the final vote in Pennsylvania, as the case only concerns mail-in ballots received after November 3.
David Boies, who represented Gore in 2000, said it is unlikely that the Trump campaign would succeed in a possible third effort to block the extended deadline.
“I think that it’s more posturing and hope than anything else,” Boies said. He added that the Pennsylvania outcome could even become irrelevant, depending on the result in Michigan and Wisconsin.
If Biden secures 270 electoral votes without needing Pennsylvania, the likelihood of a legal fight in that state diminishes in any case, legal experts said. And any challenge would also need to make its way through the usual court hierarchy.
