Supreme Court rejects emergency Pennsylvania appeal from republicans…
WASHINGTON — The Supreme Court on Tuesday refused a request from Pennsylvania Republicans to overturn the state’s election results. The justices said they would not block a ruling from Pennsylvania’s highest court that had rejected a challenge to the use of mail ballots in the state.
The Supreme Court’s order was all of one sentence, and there were no noted dissents.
The request that the Supreme Court intercede had faced substantial legal hurdles, as it was filed long after the enactment of the challenged statute that allowed mailed ballots and was based on questions of state rather than federal law.
In late November, the Pennsylvania Supreme Court ruled against the plaintiffs, led by Representative Mike Kelly, a Republican, on the first ground, saying they could have challenged a 2019 law allowing vote by mail for any reason more than a year ago.
“At the time this action was filed on Nov. 21, 2020, millions of Pennsylvania voters had already expressed their will in both the June 2020 primary election and the November 2020 general election,” the court said. “Petitioners failed to act with due diligence in presenting the instant claim. Equally clear is the substantial prejudice arising from petitioners’ failure to institute promptly a facial challenge to the mail-in voting statutory scheme, as such inaction would result in the disenfranchisement of millions of Pennsylvania voters.”
The filing in the U.S. Supreme Court sought an order telling state officials not to take further actions to certify the vote in Pennsylvania or “to nullify any such actions already taken” while the plaintiffs pursued an appeal. The request was directed to Justice Samuel A. Alito Jr., the member of the court responsible for emergency applications concerning rulings in the state.
Louisiana Attorney General Jeff Landry issued the following statement regarding the ongoing controversies over the 2020 federal election and the new motion put forward by the State of Texas before the U.S. Supreme Court.
“Millions of Louisiana citizens, and tens of millions of our fellow citizens in the country, have deep concerns regarding the conduct of the 2020 federal elections. Deeply rooted in these concerns is the fact that some states appear to have conducted their elections with a disregard to the U.S. Constitution. Furthermore, many Louisianans have become more frustrated as some in media and the political class try to sidestep legitimate issues for the sake of expediency.
Alabama has joined the lawsuit as well…
Here is my statement on the State of Texas’s motion filed with #SCOTUS and the State of Alabama’s commitment to the fight to ensure #electionintegrity: pic.twitter.com/Z8NUumtb3y
— Attorney General Steve Marshall (@AGSteveMarshall) December 8, 2020
Just twelve hours after it was filed, the Supreme Court has officially put the Texas lawsuit against Georgia, Michigan, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin on the docket, meaning the case will be heard.