A federal judge on Saturday afternoon dismissed President Donald Trump's "extraordinary" lawsuit, which sought to overturn Wisconsin's election results.
Trump's latest failed legal challenge comes from U.S. District Court Judge Brett Ludwig, who ruled that the president's federal lawsuit seeking to overturn President-elect Joe Biden's win has no merit. Ludwig was nominated for his current spot on the district court bench by Trump himself. His ruling comes as arguments are being heard in Trump's state lawsuit against Wisconsin's elections commission. All of the president's legal attempts to overturn the election have been dismissed across several states he lost to Biden, including Wisconsin, Arizona, Pennsylvania, Michigan and Georgia.
Ludwig's conclusion in his ruling reiterated that all of Trump's complaints about the Wisconsin Legislature's "chosen manner" of conducting the election should have been surfaced before the election took place. A lawsuit "dismissed with prejudice" is legal jargon meaning the plaintiffs cannot simply re-file the same complaint a second time.
"This is an extraordinary case. A sitting president who did not prevail in his bid for reelection has asked for federal help in setting aside the popular vote based on disputed issues of election administration, issues he plainly could have raised before the vote occurred. This Court has allowed plaintiff the chance to make his case and he has lost on the merits," Ludwig wrote in the latest dismissal of a Trump election challenge.
"Moreover, even if 'Manner' were stretched to include plaintiff's implementation objections, plaintiff has not shown a significant departure from the Wisconsin Legislature's chosen election scheme," the district court judge ruled.
"In his reply brief, plaintiff 'asks that the Rule of Law' be followed," Ludwig wrote. "It has been."
Breaking: Another Trump-appointed judge rejected another meritless election lawsuit, this one in Wisconsin federal court.
— Kyle Griffin (@kylegriffin1) December 12, 2020
"In his reply brief, plaintiff 'asks that the Rule of Law be followed,'" Judge Brett Ludwig wrote. "It has been," he concluded.https://t.co/cSJck3akJL
Newsweek reached out to the White House for comment.
The ruling noted that Biden won by just over 20,600 votes, a similar margin to Trump's 2016 victory in Wisconsin by just over 22,000 votes.
This latest defeat for the Trump campaign came one day after the U.S. Supreme Court rejected a lawsuit filed by the Texas attorney general.
Wisconsin Democratic Rep. Mark Pocan blasted Trump and his Republican allies for trying to overturn the election through the Supreme Court in a move which was rejected by the high court Friday night. Democratic Wisconsin Senator Tammy Baldwin also expressed shock at Trump's seemingly blatant attempts at tossing out tens of thousands of votes in the state.
"How can you serve our nation after trying to overturn our democracy? Asking for 126 of my@GOP colleagues," Pocan, of Wisconsin's 2nd Congressional District, tweeted Saturday afternoon.
"It is disgraceful that elected officials have supported Trump's attacks on our democracy and SCOTUS is right to reject the fraudulent claims and false allegations about the integrity of a fair election that Trump lost. Joe Biden won, he is President-elect. #Forward," Baldwin remarked Saturday.
Updated 9:00 PM ET, with additional information.
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Benjamin Fearnow is a reporter based out of Newsweek's New York City offices. He was previously at CBS and Mediaite ... Read more
