Sidney Powell lawsuits meet dead end in Michigan, Georgia

Sidney Powell.
(Image credit: Getty Images)

Federal judges in Michigan and Georgia tossed out lawsuits filed by attorney Sidney Powell seeking to overturn the presidential election results in both states Monday.

Judge Timothy Batten made the Georgia ruling less than 90 minutes into a hearing in Atlanta federal court, saying that the plaintiffs — who allege massive ballot fraud in favor of President-elect Joe Biden related to the state's Dominion voting machines — "essentially ask the court for perhaps the most extraordinary relief ever sought in any federal court in connection with an election." He added that he was "unwilling" to "substitute" the court's judgment "for that of two and a half million Georgia voters who voted for Joe Biden."

Earlier Monday in Michigan, Judge Linda Park struck down Powell's request to force the state to award its electoral votes to President Trump, despite Biden winning the state. The ruling stated Powell's argument was based on "theories, conjecture, and speculation" about voting machine tampering in Detroit, but lacked evidence of wrongdoing.

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Powell's losses don't amount to another blow for the Trump campaign, technically speaking, since the president and his official legal team disavowed the attorney, but the decisions do hinder the wider movement seeking to strip Biden's victory.

Powell could still appeal the rulings, but her chances of achieving a different result appear low. Read more at CNBC and The Detroit Free Press. Tim O'Donnell

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Tim O'Donnell

Tim is a staff writer at The Week and has contributed to Bedford and Bowery and The New York Transatlantic. He is a graduate of Occidental College and NYU's journalism school. Tim enjoys writing about baseball, Europe, and extinct megafauna. He lives in New York City.