US Supreme Court rejects Trump-backed challenge to election

The US supreme court has unanimously rejected a lawsuit filed by Texas seeking to overturn the presidential election result, dealing the biggest blow yet to Donald Trump’s assault on democracy.

In a brief, one-page order, all nine justices on America’s highest court dismissed the longshot effort to throw out the vote counts in four states that the president lost: Georgia, Michigan, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin.

The decision hammers another nail in the coffin of Trump’s increasingly desperate effort to subvert the will of the people and deny Joe Biden the presidency.

The suit filed by Ken Paxton, the Texas attorney general, sought to invalidate the results in four swing states, asking the court to extend the deadline for election certification so alleged voting irregularities could be investigated.

It was backed by Donald Trump, 17 other states and 126 Republicans in the House of Representatives – more than half the caucus – including the House minority leader, Kevin McCarthy of California, and the minority whip, Steve Scalise of Louisiana.

Trump had long expressed hope that a disputed election would go before the supreme court, to which he appointed three justices during his term, ensuring a 6-3 conservative majority.

Earlier on Friday he tweeted: “If the Supreme Court shows great Wisdom and Courage, the American People will win perhaps the most important case in history, and our Electoral Process will be respected again!”

But hours later, his hopes of a political miracle were all but extinguished.

The supreme court wrote: “The State of Texas’s motion for leave to file a bill of complaint is denied for lack of standing under Article III of the Constitution. Texas has not demonstrated a judicially cognizable interest in the manner in which another State conducts its elections. All other pending motions are dismissed as moot.”

Officials in Michigan, Pennsylvania, Georgia and Wisconsin had derided the suit as a publicity stunt.

More than 20 other attorneys general from states including California and Virginia also filed a brief on Thursday urging the court to reject the case.