By Aiyeku Timothy
A federal judge, Brett H. Ludwig, on Saturday, dismissed a lawsuit filed in Wisconsin seeking overturn President-elect Joe Biden’s election victory.
IBrett H. Ludwig was appointed by President Donald Trump and he was unconvinced about the arguments by the President’s campaign team.
Trump’s campaign filed the Wisconsin suit on December. 2, nearly a month after the election he lost to Biden by about 7 million votes nationwide and by an identical margin in the Electoral College to Trump’s 2016 win over Hillary Clinton.
The suit against Wisconsin Governor Tony Evers and other state officials by Trump campaign attorneys claims the state’s mail-in voting procedures during the coronavirus pandemic were put in place illegally.
The judge stated that the president “has not proved that defendants violated his rights under the Electors Clause. To the contrary, the record shows Wisconsin’s Presidential Electors are being determined in the very manner directed by the Legislature, as required by Article II, Section 1 of the Constitution”.
The judge added that Trump’s argument that disagreements over the conduct of an election by state officials created a federal claim is contrary to the Constitution and “common sense.”
Ludwig said “any disappointed loser in a presidential election, able to hire a team of clever lawyers, could flag claimed deviations from the election rules and cast doubt on the election results. This would risk turning every presidential election into a federal court lawsuit over the Electors Clause.”
While Trump’s arguments about the conduct of the election weren’t frivolous, “when they are cleared of their rhetoric, they consist of little more than ordinary disputes over statutory construction,” the judge wrote in a 23-page order.
“Plaintiff’s Electors Clause claims fail as a matter of law and fact.”
Ludwig added that “for the first time in the nation’s history, a candidate that has lost an election for president based on the popular vote is trying to use federal law to challenge the results of a statewide popular election.”
