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President Donald Trump was enraged in the Supreme Court after he ruled that officials in Pennsylvania and North Carolina could count mail-in ballots after the election, complaining that it could give Joe Biden a ‘ridiculous’ victory.
He also warned that Biden would fill the Supreme Court with more justices in an angry tweet at 2 a.m. stating that his will “destroy the Supreme Court of the United States.” The Democratic candidate said he would appoint a national commission to study the judicial system if the White House wins.
‘If Sleepy Joe Biden is actually elected president, the 4 judges (plus 1) who helped make such a ridiculous victory possible would be relegated to sitting not only in a densely packed COURT, but probably a ROTATING COURT as well. At least the many new judges will be radical left! “, Wrote.
His early morning tweet storm, which also predicted a ‘red wave’ of Republican victories, came after the president spent the day campaigning in Florida and North Carolina. On Friday he will campaign in Michigan, Wisconsin and Minnesota.
On Wednesday, the Supreme Court put into effect extensions to the North Carolina and Pennsylvania deadlines for receiving ballots by mail.
The ruling was a huge victory for Democrats as it will allow mail-in ballots to be counted after November 3, as long as they are marked by mail on Election Day.
President Donald Trump, in a tweet storm at 2 a.m., complained that Supreme Court rulings regarding mail-in ballots in Pennsylvania and North Carolina would give Joe Biden a “ ridiculous victory. ”
Both states are critical to a White House victory. Trump will spend Saturday holding three demonstrations in Pennsylvania. Biden was there on Monday. Trump’s rally in North Carolina on Thursday was canceled due to bad weather. He has rescheduled it for this Monday.
Biden will campaign in Pennsylvania on Sunday. On Monday, he, Jill Biden, his running mate Kamala Harris and Doug Emhoff will spend the day touring the state.
Republicans have scored their own victories in the series of lawsuits both sides have implemented, as a record number of Americans use mail-in ballots during the coronavirus pandemic.
More than 90 million people have requested mail-in ballots this year, according to the Electoral Project, which tracks voting data. And 53.6 million of those ballots have been returned. So far, 82 million Americans have already voted this year, either by early voting in person or by mail.
Below are some of the biggest victories for Trump and Biden in legal trials.
BIDEN WINS
NORTH CAROLINA BALLOT EXTENSION
On Wednesday, the Supreme Court upheld North Carolina’s extension of the deadline for receiving ballots by mail.
The state board of elections, citing possible delays in the delivery of mail from the U.S. Postal Service, opted to allow absentee ballots with Election Day postmarks to be counted if they arrived until nine days later.
The justices rejected a request from the Trump campaign, the Republican National Committee and North Carolina Republican officials to block a lower court-approved deal allowing the extension.
The Supreme Court order came two days after Judge Amy Coney Barrett was upheld in court. Barrett was not involved in the decision.
PENNSYLVANIA DEMAND FOR SHIPPING TIMES BY POST
The Pennsylvania Supreme Court ruled in September that disputed state officials can accept mail-in ballots three days after the Nov. 3 election, as long as they are postmarked on Election Day.
On Wednesday, the Supreme Court denied a request by Pennsylvania Republicans for an expedited review of the decision.
On October 19, the court stalled 4-4 on an emergency request from Republicans to stop the lower court’s decision. Chief Justice John Roberts sided with the court’s three liberal justices in denying the request.
Republicans prevailed on a key issue in Pennsylvania’s superior court. In interpreting a state law, the court said officials must throw away ‘naked ballots’ – ballots that arrive without internal ‘secret envelopes’.
Republicans argued that secrecy helps deter fraud. Democrats have warned that the ruling could result in the elimination of more than 100,000 votes.
PENNSYLVANIA JUDGE REJECTS VOTER FRAUD CLAIMS
On October 10, Trump-appointed US District Judge Nicholas Ranjan in Pittsburgh turned down an offer from the Trump campaign and the Republican Party to limit the use of mailboxes in Pennsylvania.
Ranjan wrote that the plaintiffs could not prove a risk of voter fraud. “At best, they have reconstructed a sequence of uncertain assumptions.”
TRUMP WINS
TEXAS TICKET DELIVERY SITES
Mailboxes have become a partisan flash point, with Democrats touting them as a safe option for voters baffled by the COVID-19 pandemic and the delivery problems of the US Postal Service. Republican officials and the Trump campaign have argued without evidence that the boxes could allow voter fraud.
Republicans scored a major victory in Texas Tuesday when the state’s highest court ruled that Gov. Greg Abbott may limit ballot drop-off locations.
“Plaintiffs complain that limiting early mail ballot deliveries to one office per county requires more travel time for some voters. But this ignores the other options for casting their votes that these voters have, ‘the court wrote. The three magistrates who issued the decision are Republicans.
Texas voters must qualify to vote by mail, for example, if they are 65 or older, ill or disabled, or not present in their voting county during the early voting period through Election Day.
The plaintiffs said they will not appeal the ruling to the Supreme Court.
Nearly 8 million Texans had cast their votes as of Tuesday, which is close to 90% of the total vote in 2016, a higher percentage than any state in the country, according to the University of Florida’s US Elections Project. .
FIGHT FOR MAIL TICKETS IN WISCONSIN
Wisconsin election officials cannot count mail-in ballots that arrive after the Nov. 3 election, a conservative majority of the U.S. Supreme Court ruled on Monday, a significant setback for Democrats.
The 5-3 ruling left in place a decision by the US Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit, which said it was too close to Election Day to make any significant modifications to the voting process.
The superior court order was issued just before the Senate confirmed Barrett.
Liberal Judge Elena Kagan disagreed, saying the majority decision “would disenfranchise a large number of responsible voters amid the dangerous conditions of a pandemic.”
Wisconsin is crucial to Trump’s re-election chances against Biden.
Democrats had argued that Election Day postmarked ballots arriving up to six days later should be counted, and said such a policy would protect the right to vote amid a surge in mail-in ballots due to the coronavirus pandemic.
TEXAS SIGNATURE REQUIREMENT
A federal appeals court said Oct. 19 that Texas does not have to give voters the opportunity to correct mail-in ballots that are rejected because the signature does not match the one on file in the state.
The ruling came in a lawsuit brought by a voting rights group against Republican Party officials in Texas, a longstanding Republican stronghold that may be up for grabs this year.
FLORIDA RESTRICTS THE RIGHT TO VOTE OF FORMER FELONS
The US Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit ruled in September that Florida can require criminals to pay fines, restitution and legal fees they owe before regaining their right to vote.
By 6-4 votes, he reversed a lower court ruling that the measure amounted to an unconstitutional poll tax. Five of the six judges in the majority were appointed by Trump.
Former offenders in Florida are more likely to register as Democrats, according to an analysis published this month by the Tampa Bay Times, Miami Herald and ProPublica.
Nearly 900,000 Floridians with felony convictions will not be able to vote in the election because of the decision, according to an Oct. 14 study by the Sentencing Project, a criminal justice reform group.
