Kari Lake Dealt Supreme Court Blow

The Supreme Court has dismissed a petition from Arizona Republicans Kari Lake and Mark Finchem to hold a new case over their claims of vote rigging in the 2022 midterm elections without explanation, according to local media.

Lake and Finchem lost the Arizona gubernatorial and secretary of state elections respectively in November 2022, though both refused to concede defeat and said the contests were rigged against them. This claim was rejected by U.S. District Court Judge John Tuchi in a ruling that was upheld by the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals, but Lake and Finchem are seeking a do-over of this trial based on "newly discovered evidence."

Over the past few years, a number of Republicans have refused to accept election results despite them being validated by the courts, most notably former President Donald Trump who is continuing to insist the 2020 election was stolen by fraud despite this claim being repeatedly rejected in legal cases and by independent election experts.

Lawrence Joseph, Lake and Finchem's attorney, had petitioned for the Supreme Court to do-over the previous trial as he said Maricopa County provided "false material evidence" about the "logic and accuracy" of election machine software used in 2022, Tucson.com reported on Sunday. Joseph also claimed that by initially waving its right to reply the county committing "fraud on the courts" if they realized they had given false evidence during the earlier trial.

In their new petition to the Supreme Court, Lake and Finchem's lawyers said: "New evidence from other litigation and public-record requests shows defendants made false statements to the district court regarding the safeguards allegedly followed to ensure the accuracy of the vote, on which the district court relied.

"That enables petitioners to seek to amend their allegations on standing...to show a non-speculative likelihood that the same harms will recur in future elections, which harms did indeed occur in the 2022 election."

Newsweek has contacted Kari Lake and Mark Finchem for comment by email and online enquiry form on his state Senate campaign website respectively.

While Joseph argued this was enough for the Supreme Court to send the case back for a fresh trial, the petition was dismissed. Speaking to Capitol Media Services, Joseph said he concluded the court clerk did not believe the waiver by Maricopa County justified his legal filling.

However while it declined to hear the re-open the case on the basis that Maricopa County is accused of committing "fraud on the courts," the Supreme Court is expected to review whether the entire case should have a new trial later this month.

Judge Tuchi issued a scathing rebuke of Lake and Finchem's claims in his August 2023 judgment saying they were no more than "conjectural allegations of potential injuries." In October 2023, the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals backed this decision branding the initial case "frivolous."

In October, Lake announced she was running for the Senate, hoping to replace independent Senator Kyrsten Sinema who has announced she will not run again. Finchem is seeking election to the Arizona state Senate.