WASHINGTON: US judges on Monday rejected bids led by an ally of President Donald Trump to decertify president-elect Joe Biden’s victories in Michigan and Georgia because of unsubstantiated election irregularities and to have Trump declared the winner in both states, the latest failed efforts to upend the election results.

Both lawsuits were filed on Nov 25 by Sidney Powell, a former lawyer for the Trump campaign, on behalf of groups of Republican voters. Trump and his allies have lost numerous cases aimed at overturning election results in states Trump lost in the Nov 3 election after winning them in 2016, making unfounded claims of fraud.

Judge Linda Parker in Detroit and judge Timothy Batten in Atlanta ruled that the plaintiffs lacked the legal standing to bring the lawsuits and that the cases were filed too late.

“The people have spoken,” Parker wrote, referring to the election results.

Batten said a hearing on Monday that the plaintiffs were seeking “perhaps the most extraordinary relief ever sought” in connection with an election.

“They want this court to substitute its judgement for that of two-and-a-half million Georgia voters who voted for Joe Biden, and this I am unwilling to do,” Batten said.

Powell did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Biden won Michigan by about 154,000 votes and Georgia by about 12,000 votes, giving him 16 electoral votes from each state. Biden amassed 306 electoral votes to Trump’s 232 in the state-by-state electoral college that determines the winner of a presidential election. The electoral college meets on Dec 14 to formally cast the votes.

Published in Dawn, December 8th, 2020