In just one sentence, “[t]he application for injunctive relief presented to Justice Alito and by him referred to the Court is denied,” the Supreme Court of the United States on Tuesday denied Pennsylvania Republicans’ request to overturn the results of the presidential election in Pennsylvania, where President-Elect Joe Biden won by 1.2 percent.
In a unanimous order (there were no dissents), the nation’s highest court—which now includes three justices confirmed by President Trump—threw out a frivolous, long-shot lawsuit to overturn the results of a legitimate election based on outlandish election fraud claims.
This marks the first time Justice Amy Coney Barrett voted on an election-related issue. Justice Barrett’s appointment was rushed in just two months prior to the election. The hope was that Trump could get an alleged election fraud case in front of the court, where the conservative justices would hand him his victory. That, obviously, did not work.
The rejection by the Supreme Court comes just over a week after the Pennsylvania Supreme Court dismissed a Trump campaign lawsuit, and Attorney General William Barr’s rebuttal of the “rigged election” claims. Republicans in Georgia, most notably Gov. Brian Kemp and secretary of state Brad Raffensperger, both Trump supporters, refused to overturn the election results long ago.
This marks the 50th election-related lawsuit by the GOP and the Trump campaign that were dismissed by courts, ranging from U.S. District Courts to state Supreme Courts and now the U.S. Supreme Court. The campaign has not come close to even overturning (or legitimately disputing) the election results in a single state.
The safe harbor deadline for states to certify their presidential election results has been reached, in preparation for the Electoral College to vote next Tuesday. This state is set by federal law and it means that when the 117th Congress certifies the Electoral College votes in January, it must follow the election results that were certified prior to this day.
Going back to the point about the conservative justices refusing to hear Trump’s case, prior to the election, many people, especially liberals and Democrats, were worried that the conservative wing of the court would rule in Trump’s favor. This was also Trump’s reasoning, because he had fought tooth and nail to confirm Justices Neil Gorsuch, Brett Kavanaugh, and Amy Coney Barrett onto the court, and expected them to repay him.
Alas, that is not how the Supreme Court of the United States works. Because the nine unelected, appointed-for-life justices on the court hold so much power, they have to be very careful to be apolitical and remain nonpartisan. Knowing that Bush v. Gore back in 2000 caused a huge deal of controversy and tarnished the court’s longstanding reputation, the justices likely won’t risk falling into that trap again. The court particularly cares about its institutional legacy (especially Chief Justice John Roberts) and ruling against a fair and free election probably wouldn’t help with its reputation much.
The American judicial system has had a long streak of upholding the rule of law and maintaining fair and free elections in the U.S., especially after elections.
This case proves that, though three justices may have been appointed by President Trump, they do not stand with him on every issue, and certainly not on an issue which has been so solidly debunked as false.
With the Electoral College soon voting and the safe harbor deadline having passed already, there is a zero percent chance (no matter what Trump or the GOP tries to do) that the results of the 2020 presidential election will be overturned.
Check out the 2020 election coverage page for more.
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