US elections: another blow for Donald Trump as Nevada judge rejects lawsuit in scathing ruling

US President Donald Trump’s hopes of overturning the 2020 election results took another hit after a lawsuit in Nevada was dismissed.

Trump and his allies have now lost at least 30 post-election lawsuits. By some calculations, the lose-win ratio is as high as 41-1.

In the latest blow to Trump, a Nevada state court on Friday rejected his campaign lawsuit that seeks to block the state’s election results.

President-elect Joe Biden won all six state electoral college votes by 703,486 to 669,890 votes.

Judge James Russell was scathing with the unprecedented request to block the certification of the state’s election results or award electoral college votes to Trump.

He said no evidence had been presented to support the campaign’s allegations of voter fraud.

“The contestants did not demonstrate by any standard of proof that illegal votes were cast and counted, or that legal votes were not counted at all, for any other improper or illegal reason, nor in an amount equal to or greater than 33,596, or a sufficient amount to raise reasonable doubts about the outcome of the election, “Justice Russell wrote.

“Reasonable doubt is based on reason, not mere possibility.”

He said much of the evidence was based on hearsay and had little to no probative value.

The phrase “did not test by any standard of proof” was repeated 25 times in Judge Russell’s ruling.

The case was dismissed with prejudice, which means that the sentence is final and is not subject to further action.

Michigan appeal denied

Also today, the Michigan Court of Appeals rejected an appeal from the Trump campaign that attempted to halt the ballot counting, calling the effort moot.

The court stated that the lawyers had not followed proper procedure when filing the lawsuit.

Arizona: Thanks for coming bye bye.

As Trump’s legal losses continue to mount, Arizona House Speaker Rusty Bowers has dealt another blow to the president’s hopes in the Grand Canyon state.

Trump’s legal team, Rudy Giuliani and Jenna Ellis, have been advocating for the reversal of Biden’s victory in Arizona. On Tuesday they held an unofficial public meeting and met with Republican leaders behind closed doors.

Bowers said the Arizona Legislature was unable to do what it was asked to do: void the certified results.

“Under current Arizona law, presidential electors who were elected on November 3 must, once the count is complete, vote for the winners of the popular vote,” he said in a statement.

“I voted for President Trump and worked hard to re-elect him. But I cannot and will not accept a suggestion that we violate current law to change the outcome of a certified election.”

Biden’s victories in Arizona and Wisconsin were certified Monday.

The last Democrat to lead Arizona was Bill Clinton in 1996, marking a significant shift on America’s electoral map this year.

Biden beat Trump by just over 10,400 ballots in Arizona, where turnout was high and demographic shifts saw a growing population of young Hispanic voters.

One last push in Pennsylvania

Meanwhile, Trump’s allies sought an emergency order from the US Supreme Court on Thursday to block the certification of election results in Pennsylvania, a key state won by Biden.

Trump appointed three conservatives to the nine-member United States Supreme Court during his presidency and said that right after the November election he was prepared to go to that court to defend what he called his reelection victory.

The measure follows the Pennsylvania Supreme Court’s rejection of a lawsuit challenging expanded mail-in voting in the key northeastern state.

The president hopes the Pennsylvania Republican Party-controlled legislature will overturn the state’s election results.

Trump still refuses to admit defeat in the November 3 election, claiming without evidence that there was widespread fraud in both voting and vote counting, and that the election was stolen from him.

On Tuesday, Attorney General William Barr, a close ally of the president, broke with Trump and said there was no evidence of significant fraud to invalidate Biden’s victory.