Trump goes to the Supreme Court because of the elections: what can come of it

US President Donald Trump's bid to have the Supreme Court ensure his re-election will face significant obstacles, both legal and practical. This may end up leaving him empty-handed. The publication told in more detail Politico.

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“We're going to go to the Supreme Court of the United States,” Trump said early Wednesday, November 4, during a speech to supporters at the White House. “We want the vote counting to stop.” We have already won."

Legal experts on both sides were somewhat baffled by Trump's remarks that the Supreme Court should stop voting. Even the interpretation of his statement as meaning the end of the counting was confusing, because in any scenario, the counting of votes in some states necessarily continued for several days after the elections.

When asked to analyze Trump's comment, GOP election lawyer Ian Baran said, “I have no idea what he's talking about. I think he too. "

As of Thursday noon, November 5, the president has little chance of winning as Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden has received majority support in Arizona, Michigan and Wisconsin. Biden has only 6 votes left to reach 270 electors, making him president.

Trump's campaigners said little about their intentions to go to the Supreme Court, although they announced plans to achieve a recount in Wisconsin, where Trump was just 20 votes behind Biden.

“There are legal mechanisms for a recount, but we need evidence and facts, as well as legal arguments,” Baran explained.

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The only case regarding vote count deadlines that could be debated by the Supreme Court right now is the situation in Pennsylvania, where Democrats and Republicans fought to extend the deadline for accepting mail-in ballots on or before Election Day to three days after the elections.

Indeed, the Trump campaign has formally asked to intervene in this situation, petitions are already pending in the Supreme Court.

But even if Trump somehow managed to prevent the state from completing the count, 20 state electoral votes would not have been enough to put him first on the Electoral College.

Thus, the president may have to extend the litigation to at least one more state in order to maintain his position.

Another arguably insurmountable legal challenge for Trump is that even if the Supreme Court ultimately ruled that a change such as the Pennsylvania three-day deadline was unconstitutional, there are indications that the majority of the court may recognize the counting of these ballots in anyway.

"I don't want to speculate on how the court will rule, but the argument that voters relied on the rules in place on and before Election Day and therefore their votes should be counted is a very strong one," said Dan Tokaji. Dean of the University of Wisconsin Law School.

The best indicator of the tough battle Trump faced may be the Supreme Court's approach early last month to litigation over a federal court order that blocked South Carolina's requirement for a witness to sign absentee ballots. The Republicans won this battle.

However, the Supreme Court's decision was accompanied by a seemingly minor caveat that voters who had already sent their absentee ballots without a witness's signature would not be charged for not having one. The judges even added a two-day grace period from the date of their decision to allow these unseen ballots to reach the election administration.

In an Oct. 5 ruling, three GOP-nominated justices noted their opposition to the exception: Clarence Thomas, Samuel Alito and Neil Gorsuch. Five other justices — three liberals, Chief Justice John Roberts and Justice Brett Kavanaugh — appeared to form the majority to create a safe harbor for voters who skipped the witness signature requirement.

If the court extended this principle to the Pennsylvania case, it would mean that the late ballots must be recognized because voters may have mailed them on election day, believing they would count if received in the following days.

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“The legal position of this case flies in the face of the Supreme Court's ruling invalidating these ballots,” said New York University law professor Richard Pildes. “This is because the court had two opportunities to stop the voters, but did not do so because it believed that their mail-in ballots were valid if they arrived on or before November 6.”

Newly appointed judge Amy Connie Barrett was not yet in court when the judges ruled a dispute in South Carolina last month. But if the pattern set in this case persists, it doesn't matter if Barrett joins the court's most conservative bloc or joins the head judge. Either way, Trump may not have the majority he needs.

Of course, one big “if” in this scenario is the assumption that the court will follow the rule it established in the South Carolina case. Roberts, Cavanaugh, or, less likely, one of the liberal judges, may hesitate or find any difference, especially if the outcome of the election will depend on the decision of the Supreme Court.

Another big “if” is whether the late vote decision could matter to Trump. Some lawyers doubt that, especially given the focus in recent weeks on mail delays and the need for ballots to be delivered on time.

“I think there will be few late ballots, much fewer than some people assume,” Pildes said. “With Pennsylvania being the focus of both campaigns from the start, voters were not only highly mobilized, but also voted early in person or by mail.”

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