PoliticoWhy the Supreme Court probably won’t help Trump’s re-election fate
- The president’s vow to take his unsubstantiated election claims to the highest court was met with confusion
This story is published in a content partnership with POLITICO. It was originally reported by Josh Gerstein on politico.com on November 4, 2020.
US President Donald Trump’s drive to have the Supreme Court ensure his re-election faces serious obstacles – both legal and practical – that could wind up leaving him empty-handed.
“We’ll be going to the US Supreme Court,” Trump declared early Wednesday during a speech to supporters at the White House. “We want all voting to stop. We don’t want them to find any ballots at 4 o’clock in the morning and add them to the list, OK? … We will win this and as far as I’m concerned we already have won it.”
Legal experts from both parties said they were somewhat baffled by Trump’s remarks about asking the high court to stop voting. Even interpreting his statement to mean halting vote counting was confusing because under any scenario, vote counting in some states was sure to continue for several days after the election.
Asked to parse Trump’s comment, long-time Republican Party election lawyer Jan Baran said: “I have no idea – and I don’t think he does either.”
As of Wednesday afternoon, the president still had a path to victory, but it had significantly narrowed after Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden clinched Arizona and increased his gains in Michigan and Wisconsin.