US Elections: President Donald Trump and Joe Biden’s Attorney Prepare for Post-Election Court Battle

US President Donald Trump and Democratic rival Joe Biden are gathering armies of powerful lawyers for the possibility that the race for the White House is decided not at the polls but in court.

Opposing campaigns have engaged in a lawyer’s version of tabletop war games, producing draft pleadings, reports and memoranda to cover a variety of legal scenarios.

Lawyers for Republicans and Democrats are already fighting in US courts over mail-in ballot deadlines and other issues brought on by the coronavirus pandemic.

And as Trump tries to cast doubt on the legitimacy of the November 3 election, both sides have built massive legal operations in preparation for a bitterly contested race that lands on the Supreme Court.

“We’ve been preparing for this for more than a year,” Republican National Committee lead attorney Justin Riemer told The Associated Press.

“We have been working with the campaign on our strategy for recount preparation, for Election Day operations and our litigation strategy.”

On the Democratic side, Biden’s campaign election protection program includes a special national litigation team involving hundreds of attorneys led by Walter Dellinger, Acting Attorney General in the Clinton Administration, and Donald Verrilli, President Barack’s Attorney General. Obama, among others.

Bob Bauer, Obama’s former White House attorney, and Biden’s campaign general counsel Dana Remus are focused on protecting the rights of voters, who have been enduring long lines at polling places across the country with the belief that presidential elections will be decided by your ballot.

Both parties are informed by the experience of the 2000 elections, which was ultimately decided by the Supreme Court in Bush v Gore.

But this year, as Trump has fueled unsubstantiated claims about the potential for voter fraud with an increase in vote-by-mail, casting doubt on the integrity of the result, lawyers are preparing for a return trip to superior court.

And, in an extraordinary twist, Trump has pushed for his Supreme Court nominee, Justice Amy Coney Barrett, to take a seat as soon as possible if confirmed as expected on Monday (NZT Tuesday), saying it’s important to have a ninth. justice to decide any electoral dispute.

The race is already believed to be the most disputed in U.S. history, with some 260 lawsuits stemming from the coronavirus for a recount.

Behind the scenes, Trump and the Republicans have been putting together a legal team that includes Jay Sekulow, one of the president’s top attorneys during the impeachment and special counsel investigation on Russia and a seasoned Supreme Court litigant.

Republicans have hired dozens of attorneys and hired prominent national firms to challenge Democratic efforts to expand access to ballots in key states on the battlefield.

– AP