Court: 2020 Challenges To Georgia’s Voter Rolls Do Not Constitute ‘Voter Intimidation’
Election integrity activists' challenge of Georgians' voting eligibility does not constitute voter intimidation, a district court ruled.
The Supreme Court is scheduled to consider a handful of high-profile election challenges at its mid-February conference taking place this week. If the court chooses to accept any of the lawsuits, they will likely be heard and decided in October.
The cases include lawsuits filed by pro-Trump attorneys Lin Wood and Sidney Powell in Georgia and Michigan, a lawsuit filed by Pennsylvania Republican state Rep. Mike Kelly, and two lawsuits filed in Wisconsin and Pennsylvania by former President Donald Trump's campaign.
The lawsuits collectively allege that unlawful conduct took place in several battleground states during the 2020 presidential election, such as the unconstitutional expansion of mail-in voting by state election officials, the failure to enforce security measures for mail-in ballots, the denial of meaningful access for Republican poll watchers, and technical issues involving voting machines.
After the lawsuits were rejected by lower courts in the weeks following the election, attorneys representing plaintiffs in the lawsuits made their appeals to the Supreme Court in short order, but the court opted not to consider the cases during a turbulent transition period.
Now, all of the cases mentioned above are scheduled for a conference taking place this Friday, February 19, according to records on the Supreme Court's website.
In nearly every plea, attorneys backing Trump's election challenges insisted their cases be heard prior to President Joe Biden's inauguration on Jan. 20, or else their success would be unlikely, the Washington Examiner reported. However, even now that Biden's inauguration has come and gone, the lawsuits have not been withdrawn.
"Our legal issue remains important and in need of the court's review," Trump lawyer John Eastman told the Examiner in reference to Pennsylvania's handling of the 2020 election. Kelly's lawyer Greg Teufel added that he has no plans to drop the lawsuit.
The attorneys likely believe their lawsuits can set in motion the advance of election security legislation even if they did not affect the 2020 presidential election, as originally intended.
Even now, Republican lawmakers across the country are pushing for legislation to reform elections, especially reining in widespread mail-in voting.