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(Reuters) – US judges on Monday rejected proposals led by an ally of President Donald Trump to decertify President-elect Joe Biden’s victories in Michigan and Georgia due to unsubstantiated election irregularities and for Trump to declare the winner in both states, the last failed efforts. to change the election results.
Both lawsuits were filed Nov. 25 by Sidney Powell, a former Trump campaign attorney, on behalf of Republican constituencies. Trump and his allies have lost numerous cases aimed at nullifying election results in states that Trump lost in the Nov.3 election after winning them in 2016, making unsubstantiated claims of fraud.
US District Judge Linda Parker in Detroit and US District Judge Timothy Batten in Atlanta ruled that the plaintiffs lacked legal capacity to bring the lawsuits and that the cases were filed too late.
“The people have spoken,” Parker wrote, referring to the election results.
Batten said at a hearing Monday that the plaintiffs were seeking “perhaps the most extraordinary relief ever sought” in connection with an election.
“They want this court to replace their judgment with that of the 2.5 million Georgia voters who voted for Joe Biden, and I’m not willing to do that,” Batten said.
Powell did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Biden won Michigan by approximately 154,000 votes and Georgia by approximately 12,000 votes, earning him 16 electoral votes from each state. Biden racked up 306 electoral votes to Trump’s 232 in the state-by-state Electoral College that determines the winner of a presidential election. The Electoral College meets on December 14 to formally cast the votes.
Trump, who has falsely claimed that he won the election, and his allies have fought an unsuccessful legal battle to try to undo the election results. Judges have also rejected cases in Arizona, Pennsylvania, Nevada and Wisconsin.
“This lawsuit appears to have less to do with achieving the relief plaintiffs seek, as much of that relief is beyond the power of this court, and more to do with the impact of its allegations on people’s faith in the process. democracy and their confidence in our government. ” Parker added.
Democrats and others have accused Trump of attempting to damage public confidence in the integrity of American elections and undermine American democracy. Most Republicans in recent opinion polls have said they believe Trump won the election and that it was stolen through election fraud. State election officials have said there is no evidence of such fraud.
Tuesday is the so-called safe harbor deadline for states to resolve disputes arising from the elections. Under US law, Congress will consider the outcome of a state election “conclusive” if it is finalized on the safe harbor date.
(Reported by Tom Hals in Wilmington, Delaware and Makini Brice in Washington with additional reporting by Jan Wolfe in Washington; edited by Will Dunham, Jonathan Oatis, and Noeleen Walder)
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