Republican senator Ben Sasse hails Supreme Court for 'closing the book on the nonsense' and slams Donald Trump's conspiracy theories
Republican Sen. Ben Sasse commended the Supreme Court for refusing to take a Texas case that President Donald Trump wanted to use to overturn the results of the presidential election.
The Nebraska senator also mocked the president and his legal team's conspiracy theories used on Trump supporters to call into question the winner.
'Since Election Night, a lot of people have been confusing voters by spinning Kenyan Birther-type "Chavez rigged the election from the grave" conspiracy theories, but every American who cares about the rule of law should take comfort that the Supreme Court - including all three of President Trump's picks - closed the book on this nonsense,' Sasse said.
Republian Sen. Ben Sasse commended the Supreme Court for its decision Friday night not to hear a Texas case that President Donald Trump hoped would be a vehicle for the election result to be overturned
Sasse, a Nebraska Republican, put out a statement calling Trump and his legal team's lawsuit 'nonsense' and ridiculing them for the conspiracy theories they've been pushing to convince Trump's supporters that the election was stolen from the president
The Supreme Court on Friday denied a Hail Mary effort by the attorney general of Texas who had asked the court to intervene and overturn the election in four states that went for Joe Biden, dealing a crippling legal pro to Donald Trump'e legal strategy.
The court was fully in agreement that they would dismiss the case, though Justice Clarence Thomas and Samuel Alito, both appointed by Republicans, said they would have heard the case - but that they would have refused to overturn the election result effectively making the result 9-0.
The stunning end to Trump's legal bid to overturn the election came just after 6.30pm in a one-page ruling from the court.
'Texas has not demonstrated a judicially cognizable interest in the manner in which another State conducts its elections,' the ruling said – refusing to even take up a case that legal scholars had already ripped as a legal farce.
Trump had called the case 'the big one,' and tweeted a series of messages designed to push the court to rule in his favor.
Now, with the high court dismissing the high-profile effort – the mother of all the 'Kraken' lawsuits – he is without an avenue to overturn the election he calls 'rigged' despite dozens of lower courts ruling against allied efforts.
Sasse also knocked Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton (pictured) in a statement Thursday, saying that his lawsuit looked like a 'PR stunt' and suggested Paxton, who is being investigated by the FBI, was hoping for a Trump pardon
President Donald Trump (left) poses for a photo with Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton (right). Paxton is currently under criminal investigation by the FBI over claims that he abused his office to help a wealthy donor
The president sought to intervene in the case – and 126 Republican House members followed suit, while 17 states signed a friend of the court brief supporting the Texas suit.
That didn't stop the four states being sued, Pennsylvania, Michigan, Wisconsin, and Georgia, from blasting the suit as 'legally indefensible and is an affront to principles of constitutional democracy.'
The case was being led by Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton.
On Thursday, Sasse went after Paxton too.
'I'm no lawyer, but I suspect the Supreme Court swats this away,' Sasse said in a statement, given to The Washington Examiner. 'From the brief, it looks like fella begging for a pardon filed a PR stunt rather than a lawsuit - as all of its assertions have already been rejected by federal courts and Texas' own solicitor general isn't signing on.'
Paxton is under criminal investigation by the FBI over claims that he abused the powers of his office to aid a wealthy donor.
He has denied wrongdoing.
Sasse's rebuke of both Trump and Paxton is a rare one, as a majority of Capitol Hill Republicans have stayed silent or voiced support for Trump's moves to overturn the results of the November 3 presidential election, which was won by Trump's Democratic rival, President-elect Joe Biden.
While more than 100 House Republicans signed on to an amicus brief supporting the Texas case, only the usual suspects - like Sasse and Sen. Mitt Romney - spoke out against it.
'I think the effort to overturn the will of the people is appalling,' Romney told CNN.
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