WASHINGTON: The US Supreme Court on Friday dismissed a bid by Texas to overturn the results of the presidential election, which Republican Donald Trump lost to Democrat Joe Biden, in a fresh setback for the president.
The longshot suit lodged late Tuesday against four states key in the Nov 3 vote – Michigan, Georgia, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin – challenged Biden’s victory in each of the four.
But the Supreme Court justices said Texas – which voted for Trump – “has not demonstrated a judicially cognisable interest in the manner in which another State conducts its elections”.
The suit had been seen as audacious and barely legally sound, given that no one state has any legal right to interfere in another’s voting processes. Even so, it was backed by 106 Republican lawmakers and 17 state attorneys general.
Texas alleged that the results in the other four states were “unconstitutional” because of their heavy use of “fraud-prone” mail-in votes during the coronavirus pandemic.
It offered no proof of significant fraud, and it didn’t challenge the use of mailed ballots in states Trump won.
The suit cited numerous alleged examples of potential fraud already repeatedly rejected by courts in dozens of Trump campaign cases.
Minutes before the ruling came down Trump released a new TV ad again falsely claiming that the election was stolen, calling it an “outrage” and telling supporters to contact their legislators.
Earlier Friday he urged the Supreme Court to show “great Wisdom and Courage” in a tweet that claimed that the “American People” needed the Texas lawsuit to win.
He also retweeted a conspiracy theory about voter fraud declaring that “Joe Biden will not set foot in that White House”.