The U.S. Federal Supreme Court will discuss whether to take up a series of 2020 election-related lawsuits at a session scheduled for this Friday (Feb. 19).
A view of the west side of the U.S. Supreme Court (March 11, 2019)
With the inauguration of new President Joe Biden and the conclusion of the impeachment trial against former President Trump, it is Time for the Supreme Court to review and rule on exactly which government entity has the power to make and change election laws, said Dan Meuser, a Republican U.S. senator from Pennsylvania, in a 16-day article in the Washington Examiner. “Doing so will help restore confidence in the exercise of the most basic rights of citizens and help unite a divided nation,” Mercer said.
Which cases will be discussed?
Several lawsuits involving voting counting procedures in Pennsylvania, Michigan, Georgia and Wisconsin for the 2020 election will be decided Friday on their admissibility, according to a docket search on the Supreme Court’s website. Cases include –
A lawsuit filed by several Republican lawmakers in Pennsylvania over the “unconstitutional” extension of Pennsylvania’s vote-by-mail deadline last year and a lawsuit over “unfair ballot-matching” efforts
A lawsuit filed by attorney Sidney Powell over “election fraud and violations of several state election laws” in Michigan
Lawsuit filed by attorney Lin Wood regarding “absentee voting and recount procedures that violate state law and the Constitution” in Georgia
Lawsuit filed by the Trump campaign seeking recounts in Milwaukee and Dane counties in Wisconsin.
Predicting the outcome of the discussion
Rick Hasen, a professor at the University of California, Irvine, School of Law, told Voice of America that the Supreme Court is likely to decline to take up the lawsuit filed by Powell, Wood and others, but is likely to agree to take up the Pennsylvania Republican’s lawsuit.
“These cases raise questions about the extent to which state courts can modify state statutes related to federal elections under the state constitution,” Hasen said.
Why?
Why is the Supreme Court still considering hearing election-related cases when the 2020 election is over, Congress has officially certified the election results, Joseph Biden has been officially inaugurated as the 46th president of the United States, and the election results will not be changed regardless of the Supreme Court’s decision?
“While the outcome of the decision is no longer relevant to the outcome of the 2020 election,” Hasson said, “the reason the Supreme Court is likely to agree to take up the Pennsylvania Republican lawsuit is that it could provide guidance for future elections.”
In his article published in the Washington Examiner, Merzer emphasized that the request for judicial clarification of the election statute is not an attempt to overturn the 2020 election results or to promote conspiracy theories about the outcome of the election.
The election is over, President Biden has been inaugurated, and a Supreme Court ruling on election regulations would show millions of people that their concerns have been addressed,” Mercer said. Such a ruling also has important implications for the prospects of candidates of any political stripe. We cannot allow partisan-biased government officials, whether Republicans or Democrats, to change election regulations in defiance of long-standing judicial precedent.”
Last month, the Supreme Court declined to expedite – i.e., in time for the inauguration – consideration of a lawsuit filed by the Trump campaign and Powell, Wood and others against the election process in Pennsylvania, Wisconsin, Michigan and Georgia. Some analysts see this as a signal that the Supreme Court is not interfering with the progress of the political process.
In addition, Texas Republican Attorney General Ken Paxton filed a lawsuit against Pennsylvania, Michigan, Georgia and Wisconsin last December, alleging that Pennsylvania, Michigan, Georgia and Wisconsin had broken the law by changing their election laws during the Epidemic and asking the Supreme Court to delay the scheduled Dec. 4 voter turnout date. The Supreme Court declined to hear the case several days later on the grounds that the lawsuit had insufficient merit.
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