Wisconsin Supreme Court case…
https://www.jsonline.com/story/news/politics/elections/2020/12/12/wisconsin-supreme-court-hears-trump-lawsuit/6521387002/?utm_campaign=snd-autopilotDeep Divisions In WisconsinMADISON – The state Supreme Court showed deep divisions Saturday as it contemplated a final push by President Donald Trump to throw out Democrat Joe Biden’s narrow win in Wisconsin.
The three liberals on the state’s high court showed extreme skepticism toward Trump’s arguments. Three conservatives showed some support for at least parts of his claims.
Unclear were the views of Justice Brian Hagedorn, who was elected last year with the support of Republicans but has sided at times with the liberals. He joined the liberals last week in turning down three other challenges to Wisconsin’s election results.
In the latest case, the justices are expected to rule before the Electoral College meets at noon Monday.
Trump brought a lawsuit directly to the state Supreme Court, but the justices rejected it on a 4-3 vote last week, saying he should start in lower court.
Trump then filed a new challenge and Reserve Judge Stephen Simanek on Friday ruled against Trump, saying officials had run a fair election that was free of widespread fraud and misconduct.
Hours later, Trump appealed and asked the Supreme Court to take up the case rather than have it go to the Court of Appeals. The justices agreed to take the case and scheduled Saturday’s arguments.
Trump attorney Jim Troupis argued several election practices in Wisconsin — some of them long-standing — were illegal. He said voting was tainted by fraud, but the fraud was perpetrated by clerks and poll workers rather than voters. “This whole case is about fraud,” Troupis says. “The statutes are in place because they presume if you do not follow them there is fraud.”
He faced tough questioning from the court’s liberals, who said it was unfair for him to try to eliminate more than 220,000 ballots in the state’s most populous counties while letting stand ballots that were cast in the same ways in other counties.
“This lawsuit, Mr. Troupis, smacks of racism,” Justice Jill Karofsky said.
“This isn’t about the amount of money that this recount cost,” she said. “This is about disenfranchising voters in two counties, and only two counties, in the state of Wisconsin.”
Karofsky won a seat on the court this year. She said before the election she would never vote for Trump, saying there were so many reasons she opposed him she didn’t know where to start.
Troupis argued clerks were wrong to fill in the addresses of witnesses on absentee ballot envelopes, and Justices Rebecca Bradley and Annette Ziegler showed sympathy for those concerns.