Trump can't just ask the Supreme Court to stop ballot counting, GOP election lawyer tells 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."
Tapper asked Ginsberg, who was national counsel to George W. Bush's campaign in the Florida recount, if he had seen anything like Trump's statement. "No, not even close," he said. Ginsberg retired over the summer, then started criticizing Trump's constant and baseless claims of voter fraud.
Subscribe to The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
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.
Trump's "unsubstantiated talk about 'rigged' elections caused by absentee ballot 'fraud' and 'cheating' has been around since 2016," Ginsberg wrote in The Washington Post last week. But "this is not about finding fraud and irregularities. It's about suppressing the number of votes not cast for Trump." CBS News estimates that there are five million legally cast votes left to be counted in the five uncalled swing states. Peter Weber
Sign up for Today's Best Articles in your inbox
A free daily email with the biggest news stories of the day – and the best features from TheWeek.com
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.
-
Will Starmer's Brexit reset work?
Today's Big Question PM will have to tread a fine line to keep Leavers on side as leaks suggest EU's 'tough red lines' in trade talks next year
By The Week UK Published
-
How domestic abusers are exploiting technology
The Explainer Apps intended for child safety are being used to secretly spy on partners
By Chas Newkey-Burden, The Week UK Published
-
Scientists finally know when humans and Neanderthals mixed DNA
Under the radar The two began interbreeding about 47,000 years ago, according to researchers
By Justin Klawans, The Week US Published
-
ABC News to pay $15M in Trump defamation suit
Speed Read The lawsuit stemmed from George Stephanopoulos' on-air assertion that Trump was found liable for raping writer E. Jean Carroll
By Peter Weber, The Week US Published
-
Judge blocks Louisiana 10 Commandments law
Speed Read U.S. District Judge John deGravelles ruled that a law ordering schools to display the Ten Commandments in classrooms was unconstitutional
By Peter Weber, The Week US Published
-
Supreme Court to weigh transgender care limits
Speed Read The case challenges a Tennessee law restricting care for trans minors
By Rafi Schwartz, The Week US Published
-
ATF finalizes rule to close 'gun show loophole'
Speed Read Biden moves to expand background checks for gun buyers
By Peter Weber, The Week US Published
-
Hong Kong passes tough new security law
Speed Read It will allow the government to further suppress all forms of dissent
By Peter Weber, The Week US Published
-
France enshrines abortion rights in constitution
speed read It became the first country to make abortion a constitutional right
By Peter Weber, The Week US Published
-
Texas executes man despite contested evidence
Speed Read Texas rejected calls for a rehearing of Ivan Cantu's case amid recanted testimony and allegations of suppressed exculpatory evidence
By Peter Weber, The Week US Published
-
Supreme Court wary of state social media regulations
Speed Read A majority of justices appeared skeptical that Texas and Florida were lawfully protecting the free speech rights of users
By Peter Weber, The Week US Published