The U.S. Supreme Court Friday dealt a serious blow to President Donald Trump’s effort to win a second term through the courts. But the president is not done with litigation.
In a lawsuit pending in Fulton County Superior Court, Trump seeks to overturn the presidential election results in Georgia. Now he has appealed to the Georgia Supreme Court to get a resolution of the case before Monday, when the Electoral College will formally vote to name Joe Biden the next president.
Trump initially filed the lawsuit Dec. 4. But the Fulton County Superior Court clerk’s office initially rejected it, saying the president’s attorneys didn’t pay the proper filing fee or fill out the paperwork correctly.
Trump’s attorneys corrected that on Monday – the same day state officials recertified the election results following a third tally of votes. The vote showed Biden won Georgia by 11,779 votes out of some 5 million ballots cast.
With the certification done, Trump’s campaign withdrew an emergency motion for a temporary restraining order to prevent the certification. With the emergency motion withdrawn, Fulton County Judge Constance Russell issued an order Wednesday stating the lawsuit would proceed “in the normal course” – which means it will not be resolved any time soon.
On Friday, Trump’s campaign appealed to the Georgia Supreme Court.
The appeal says Russell is not qualified to judge an election case under state law because she is a resident of Fulton County and an active judge – not a judge on senior status. Because of that and other miscues it says occurred at the county court, the appeal asks the Supreme Court to rule on the merits of its case before Monday.
Among other things, the lawsuit says tens of thousands of people voted illegally in Georgia. Such claims came under fire at a state legislative hearing last week, when a lawmaker said she found that several voters who allegedly cast fraudulent ballots were, in fact, legally registered voters. U.S. Attorney General William Barr and Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger have said their investigators have found no evidence of widespread voter fraud.
Raffensperger is the defendant in the Trump lawsuit. His office could not immediately be reached for comment Saturday.
The U.S. Supreme Court on Friday rejected Texas’ attempt to overturn the presidential election in Georgia and three other states. In a brief decision, the court said Texas didn’t have the legal right to bring a lawsuit against elections run by other states.
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