Yesterday, the Court handed down a one sentence response to a lawsuit by Republican Congressman Mike Kelly, who was looking to have 2.6 million mail-in ballots in Pennsylvania tossed and have the state's legislature appoint Trump electors. The response was as follows: "The application for injunctive relief presented to Justice Alito and by him referred to the Court is denied."
Kelly can still file a certiorari petition, but the odds of the Court granting that before the inauguration is about as likely as the Titanic being raised from the bottom of the Atlantic and making it safely to port. Likewise for another bat-shit crazy lawsuit brought by Texas against four swing states that Biden carried. Just as it did in the Kelly suit, the Court has asked for responses from the defendant states by Thursday afternoon. And once they respond, I fully expect this case to be similarly disposed of, given that is was brought by an attorney general, Ken Paxton, who is under indictment for securities fraud. I'm guessing he's bucking for a presidential pardon. There's meritless and then there's embarrassing.
But getting back to the Kelly case, the sheer arrogance of it cannot be overstated. In essence, the relief Kelly was seeking was to have the highest court in the nation rule unconstitutional a statute that passed both houses of the Pennsylvania General Assembly and was signed into law by a duly elected governor over a year before the 2020 election took place. That law - Act 77 - allowed for millions of people to vote by mail. Talk about having balls.
Having been rebuked twice by the Pennsylvania Supreme Court, Kelly thought a Supreme Court with six conservative justices would be dumb enough to go along with him. Turns out he was wrong. Not only did the Court refuse to hear the case, but there were no dissents, meaning not one of those six conservative justices thought this case had merit. And it's worth pointing out that Samuel Alito - who handles all the appeals from Pennsylvania, Delaware and New Jersey - and Clarence Thomas were among those conservatives.
What's been striking about these last three weeks is that judges from both sides of the political spectrum have been tossing these baseless suits left and right. Late last month, an appeals court for the Third Circuit unanimously dismissed an attempt to prevent Pennsylvania from certifying its election results. The scathing opinion was written by Judge Stepanos Bibas, a Trump appointee. Ironic, ain't it? And now the Supreme Court, with three justices appointed by Trump, has given him the boot. To quote scripture, Oh death, where is thy sting?
So where does that leave us? Well for stars, the Safe Harbor date has come and gone and all 50 states plus Washington DC have certified their results. There was some doubt about Wisconsin because there is an active case due to be heard Thursday, but according to Greg Doucette, who is a constitutional lawyer, that isn't a problem. All the certificates are at the national archives. I checked, and sure enough they are. Only a trial order reversal could overturn those certifications, and with Trump's track record in the courts, that seems highly improbable. On December 14, the Electoral College will meet to certify Joe Biden and Kamala Harris as the next president and vice president of the United States.
But let's be honest for a moment. This was never about winning in court. The fact is there was no legal strategy here that would've led to Trump prevailing. Even conservative legal scholars scoffed at the notion that Trump could upend the election results. And let's face it, when your lead attorneys are Rudy Giuliani, Jenna Ellis and Sidney Powell, AKA, Moe, Larry and Curly, you're not just stepping up to the plate with two strikes against you, you're stepping up to the plate with two strikes against you, and one arm and one leg missing. Seriously, all three of these bozos should be disbarred for the mockery they are making out of our judicial system. When this is over, severe sanctions need to be imposed.
No, the real goal from the beginning was to discredit the American political system to such an extent that a large portion of the electorate loses faith in voting. And in that endeavor, Trump appears to be winning. More than 70 percent of registered Republicans believe the 2020 election was fraudulent, despite zero evidence presented in court. The kangaroo court "hearings" that Giuliani and his motley crew have been holding with GOP lawmakers has gone viral on social media and on far-right news outlets. The damage that has resulted from these assaults will take years to repair, and that's assuming it can even be repaired.
This will be Trump's legacy. A morally corrupt president and professional grifter who failed in his coup attempt to remain in power, but who succeeded at destroying his own party and mortally wounding the nation that rejected him.
P.S., An earlier version of this piece incorrectly stated that the judge who issued the opinion against Trump in the Third Circuit was Matthew Brann. Brann is actually the district court judge appointed by Barack Obama who wrote the earlier opinion that was later appealed to the Third Circuit. Stephanos Bibas is the Trump appointed judge who wrote the opinion for the Third Circuit. I have made the correction and apologize for the error.
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