Published 13:23 IST, November 5th 2020
US Election 2020: Supreme Court may not have final say as Trump threatens legal action
While Trump said he would ask the SC to weigh in on the presidential race, legal experts said that the nation’s top judicial body may not be the final arbiter.
- World News
- 3 min read
While the US President Donald Trump said that he would ask the Supreme Court to weigh in on the presidential race, legal experts said that the nation’s top judicial body may not be the final arbiter in this election. While the voting is still underway in many states, Trump made an appearance at the White House and declared victory against Democratic nominee Joe Biden. Trump called the election a “major fraud” and said that he wants the law to be used in a “proper manner” and so he will be going to the US Supreme Court. “We want all voting to stop,” he said.
Soon after Trump’s comments, Ned Foley, an election law expert, said that it is doubtful that courts would entertain a bid by the US President to stop the counting of ballots that were received before or on Election Day, or that any dispute a court might handle would change the trajectory of the race in closely fought states like Michigan and Pennsylvania. Experts have said that the Supreme Court would be involved only if there were votes of questionable validity that make a difference.
Both the leaders, Trump and Biden, have amassed armies of lawyers to go to the mat in a close race. Biden’s team includes Marc Elias, who is a top election attorney at the firm Perkins Coie, and former Solicitors General Donald Verrilli and Walter Dellinger. Trump’s lawyers, on the other hand, include Matt Morgan, the president's campaign general counsel, Supreme Court litigator William Consovoy, and Justin Clark, senior counsel to the campaign.
Trump sues Michigan, Pennsylvania and Georgia
Meanwhile, Biden has made huge leaps in claiming the presidency by winning the states of Wisconsin and Michigan as per US media outlets. Trump, on the other hand, has accused the authorities of ‘secretly dumping ballots’ and falsely claimed victory in Michigan. By flipping the northern battlegrounds, Biden has now reportedly reached 264 electoral votes against Trump’s 214. Moreover, if six electoral votes of Nevada are added, where he is narrowly leading Trump, the Democratic challenger will be able to acquire the number required to reach White House, 270.
Irked by the outcome of the US Election 2020 till now, Trump has repeatedly sown mistrust among Americans regarding the integrity of the states in counting the votes. The US President, who has already termed the November 3 election as “embarrassment” and “major fraud”, has sued Michigan, Pennsylvania and Georgia while demanding a recount in Wisconsin.
Updated 13:22 IST, November 5th 2020
