On Tuesday, the US Supreme Court threw out a case filed by allies of US President Donald Trump which sought to overturn the results of the vote in Pennsylvania. Democratic candidate Joe Biden won Pennsylvania by around 81,000 votes.
The case was filed by Mike Kelly of Pennsylvania, a US Congressman and Trump ally, and Republican lawmakers from the state. They argued that a 2019 state law, that expanded vote-by-mail, was unconstitutional because it wasn’t enacted with a constitutional amendment.
The Supreme Court rejected the injunctive relief for the plaintiffs and it did not note any dissents.
The Supreme Court order simply read, “The application for injunctive relief presented to Justice Alito and by him referred to the court is denied.”
Trump has made several unsupported claims on widespread electoral fraud. He has been relying on the largely conservative Supreme Court and hoping that the judges he put on the board, Amy Coney Barrett who was appointed just days before the election included, will come through in support of him.
The decision of the court came on the day of the election’s ‘safe harbor’ deadline. This means that this is the date by when States have the option of securing the results of the vote and settling all disputes.
On 6 January, the US Congress will officially meet to count the 538 Electoral College Votes. Biden has 306 votes while Trump has 232. Only 270 votes are required to secure a win.
The state of Texas also brought a lawsuit to the Supreme Court on Tuesday, asking that the vote in four important battleground states won be Biden be overturned. Again, the argument was that the states had unlawfully expanded mail-in-voting because of the pandemic. The states that are to be blocked are Georgia, Wisconsin, Michigan and Pennsylvania.
