WISCONSIN — The Wisconsin Supreme Court Thursday decided not to take up President Donald Trump’s lawsuit challenging Wisconsin’s election results. But that doesn’t mean the case is over.
President Trump’s legal team was hoping to bypass lower courts and take their argument straight to the Wisconsin Supreme Court, but in a 4-3 decision, that state’s high court voted to deny Trump’s request.
Conservative Justice Brian Hagedorn sided with the court’s three liberals in the decision. He wrote: “We do well as a judicial body to abide by time-tested judicial norms, even—and maybe especially—in high-profile cases. Following the law governing challenges to election results is no threat to the rule of law."
According to state law, cases regarding election disputes must start in circuit court, which according to Hagedorn, is better designed to investigate facts and claims.
The Trump Campaign wanted the Wisconsin Supreme Court to disqualify 221,000 ballots in Dane and Milwaukee counties over alleged voting violations.
Wisconsin elections officials maintain state law was followed, and there was no fraud.
“The issues that Trump’s campaign brought up are things that have been in place in Wisconsin for at least 10 different elections, including in 2016, when Trump won Wisconsin,” said Gov. Tony Evers. “They are consistent best practices.”
Evers says the Wisconsin Supreme Court made the right decision, but it should have been a unanimous vote.
“Trump’s claims are such a horrible stretch,” Evers said. “It would have disenfranchised hundreds of thousands of people in Wisconsin and frankly, I’m surprised three justices on the court were willing to do just that.”
Attorney Jim Troupis, who’s representing the Trump campaign in Wisconsin, says they’ll follow the Wisconsin Supreme Court ruling and file their case in Milwaukee and Dane counties immediately.
Troupis and the Trump campaign released a statement that says in part: “We look forward to taking the next step. We fully expect to be back in front of the Supreme Court very soon. As I have said before, we will continue fighting on behalf of Wisconsinites and the American people to defend their right to a free and fair election.
Once facts are established in the lower court, Trump’s case could potentially come back to the Wisconsin Supreme Court, but that would take a lot more time.
This case is separate from the federal lawsuit the Trump Campaign filed Wednesday night, asking that Wisconsin’s Republican-controlled state legislature be given the authority to determine Wisconsin’s election results.