Trump can't just ask the Supreme Court to stop ballot counting, GOP election lawyer tells CNN

Ben Ginsberg on Trump and the Supreme Court
(Image credit: Screenshot/Twitter/CNN)

President Trump early Wednesday said he thinks he won the presidential race, prematurely claimed victory in states that still have millions of votes uncounted, and said he will ask the Supreme Court to halt the vote count — or stop the "voting," as he said. Officials in Pennsylvania and other states that won't finish counting votes for hours or days vowed that every ballot will be counted. And legal experts said Trump can't really just petition the Supreme Court to halt the counting of legally cast votes.

Ben Ginsberg, who spent decades as a top Republican Party election lawyer, told CNN's Jake Tapper early Wednesday that even if Trump did have a mechanism to petition an end to the vote counting or toss out votes, that request would "be viewed by any court, including the Supreme Court, as just a massive disenfranchisement that would be frowned upon."

Subscribe to The Week

Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

SUBSCRIBE & SAVE
https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/flexiimages/jacafc5zvs1692883516.jpg

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

Sign up
Explore More
To continue reading this article...
Continue reading this article and get limited website access each month.
Get unlimited website access, exclusive newsletters plus much more.
Cancel or pause at any time.
Already a subscriber to The Week?
Not sure which email you used for your subscription? Contact us
Peter Weber, The Week US

Peter has worked as a news and culture writer and editor at The Week since the site's launch in 2008. He covers politics, world affairs, religion and cultural currents. His journalism career began as a copy editor at a financial newswire and has included editorial positions at The New York Times Magazine, Facts on File, and Oregon State University.