MADISON — The Wisconsin Supreme Court has ordered that President Trump's two lawsuits challenging election results be consolidated into one case, and that the case is heard by a Racine County judge.
According to court documents released Thursday evening, Chief Justice Patience Drake Roggensack ordered the Milwaukee and Dane circuit courts to combine the two lawsuits Trump's lawyers filed in their respective counties.
The chief justice also announced that Reserve Judge Stephen A. Simanek of Racine County will preside over the consolidated appeal proceedings in the circuit court.
"Those appeals relate to an election that was held in more than one judicial district. In such circumstances, Wisconsin Statute § 9.01(6)(b) provides that the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court shall consolidate those appeals and appoint the judge, who shall be a reserve judge if available, to preside over the consolidated appeal," Roggensack ruled.
The decision comes after the state Supreme Court rejected Trump's lawsuit challenging Wisconsin's election results. The justices voted 4-3 that cases such as this one must, by law, be filed in the circuit court.
In that lawsuit, the Trump campaign wanted the Supreme Court to disqualify 221,000 ballots in Dane and Milwaukee counties. President-elect Joe Biden won Wisconsin by about 20,600 votes.
Trump's lawyers filed their appeals in Milwaukee and Dane circuit courts late Thursday evening, court records show.
“As the Supreme Court directed, we have filed an appeal in Dane and Milwaukee Counties as we work to ensure only legal votes count in Wisconsin. We fully expect to be back in front of the state’s highest court very soon,” Jim Troupis, the Trump campaign's attorney in Wisconsin, wrote in a statement.
Trump's campaign also has a pending lawsuit in federal court, which aims to have Wisconsin's legislature decide which candidate gets the state's electoral votes.