'The Supreme Court let us down': Trump rages after SCOTUS rejects Texas AG's bid to overturn Biden's election victory and pardoned Roger Stone joins Proud Boys and hundreds protesting the outcome in Washington
President Donald Trump blasted the Supreme Court as having 'no wisdom, no courage' on Friday night after it dismissed a case filed by the attorney general of Texas which asked them to intervene and overturn the election in four states which Joe Biden won.
The SCOTUS decision to not even hear the case dealt a crippling legal blow to Trump's legal strategy, adding to the long list of failed lawsuits his campaign has filed in an effort to change the election results as the president still refuses to concede and continues with unfounded claims of voter fraud.
'The Supreme Court really let us down,' Trump claimed, as he took to Twitter to voice his disapproval.
He added quotes from Fox News' The Ingraham Angle which claimed 'the establishment failed us' and that 'the American people deserve answers' as the show argued that the case should have been heard.
The SCOTUS decision was met with immediate anger from the president's loyalists, as hundreds began to protest the outcome in Washington D.C., joined by members of the far-right Proud Boys and pardoned Trump ally Roger Stone.
Stone addressed the protests, which turned violent in the early hours of Saturday morning as Proud Boys clashed with Black Lives Matter counter-protesters.
Before the SCOTUS result was announced, Trump had tweeted that the Texas AG's suit was 'perhaps the most important case in history' and that if the court's judges showed 'great wisdom and courage' the country's 'Electoral Process will be respected again'.
Yet the majority of the Supreme Court Justices did not agree with the president and seven of them voted to dismiss the case completely without it being heard.
Justices Clarence Thomas and Samuel Alito said they would have heard the case but that they would have refused to overturn the election result which effectively made 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 which deemed that the Texas AGs bid to have the case heard had little standing.
Trump slammed the Supreme Court on Friday after it dismissed a case filed by the attorney general of Texas which asked them to intervene and overturn the election in four states Biden won in another blow to the president's campaign
President Trump claimed on Twitter that the Supreme Court judges had 'no wisdom, no courage'
Trump added quotes from Fox News' The Ingraham Angle as he raged against the result on Twitter, claiming 'the establishment failed us' and 'the American people deserve answers', arguing that the case should have been heard.
D.C.: Roger Stone, center, a longtime friend and adviser of the president, joined with supporters of Trump and members of the far-right Proud Boys as they march to protest the Supreme Court decision in D.C. on Friday night
D.C.: Cops pull apart a pro-Trump protester and a counter protester as demonstrations began to turn violent
D.C.: Many of the protesters carried Trump flags as they marched to protest the Supreme Court decision
D.C.: Proud Boys Chairman Enrique Tarrio (center) walks as hundreds of Trump supporters and members of the far-right group march in Washington D.C. following Friday night's Supreme Court decision to dismiss a case regarding alleged election fraud
The case was filed by Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton, pictured, on Monday who claimed votes in the 4 states were tainted
The Supreme Court declined to take the case Trump called 'the big one, dismissing completely on Friday evening
D.C.: Washington DC Police keep Members of the Proud Boys back as they clash with Black Lives Matter protesters during a protest near Black Lives Matter Plaza on Friday night following Trump's loss at the Supreme 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 fumed into the early hours of the morning about the result as he launched a Twitter tirade declaring it a 'legal disgrace' and an 'embarrassment to the USA'.
He had been scheduled to address the White House Christmas party earlier in the evening but guests were informed last-minute that he would not be joining.
'So, you’re the President of the United States, and you just went through an election where you got more votes than any sitting President in history, by far - and purportedly lost,' he wrote.
'You can’t get “standing” before the Supreme Court, so you “intervene” with wonderful states hat, after careful study and consideration, think you got “screwed”, something which will hurt them also. Many others likewise join the suit but, within a flash, it is thrown out and gone, without even looking at the many reasons it was brought.
'A Rigged Election, fight on!' he added, appearing to be determined to continue refusing to concede the election.
He interspersed the flurry of tweets with a reminder that the FDA had approved the emergency use of a COVID-19 vaccine earlier in the evening.
D.C.: A Trump supporter lies on the ground after clashes break out with Black Lives Matter counter-protesters
D.C.: The recently pardoned Roger Stone, pictured, is among Trump's most loyal allies. He joined the protests in Washington D.C. on Friday night, addressing the crowd of hundreds with a mega phone following the Supreme Court announcement
D.C.: Hundreds of Trump supporters emerged in the Capitol on Friday night to protest
D.C.: A counter protester was spotted among hundreds of Trump loyalists who marched in Washington D.C. on Friday night
D.C.: Roger Stone was pictured on Friday night joining protests with Trump supporters in Washington D.C.
D.C.: Trump supported quickly lined the streets to voice their anger after the Supreme Court decision was announced
'It is a legal disgrace, and embarrassment to the USA!' Trump said in one of his tweets on Friday night
Trump hit out at the Supreme Court for dismissing the case without it even being heard
Meanwhile, Stone took his support of Trump marching through the nation's capital with the extremist far-right group the Proud Boys, of which he is a member.
Proud Boys Chairman Enrique Tarrio was at the rally and addressed the crowd of Trump supporters near the Washington Monument Friday night.
According to the Anti-Defamation League, the group is a far-right males-only extremist group that has neo-fascist, violent, nationalistic, Islamophobic, and misogynistic views.
With the high court dismissing the high-profile effort – the mother of all the 'Kraken' lawsuits – Trump is without an avenue to overturn the election he calls 'rigged' despite dozens of lower courts ruling against allied efforts.
A disappointed Texas AG Ken Paxton responded to the result on Twitter, saying: 'It is unfortunate that the Supreme Court decided not to take this case and determine the constitutionality of these four states' failure to follow federal and state election law.'
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.'
Trump interspersed the flurry of tweets with a reminder that the FDA had approved the emergency use of a COVID-19 vaccine
But the majority found that Texas lacked 'standing' to even bring the case. It also had not demonstrated a 'judiciably cognizable interest in the manner in which another state conducts elections.' In other word, its legal argument failed to justify why it was justified in having a court consider it's objections to how another state chose to run its elections.
The dissent by Alito and Thomas was a particular blow. The two conservatives gave no quarter to the substance of Texas' argument.
Their separate dissent spoke only to their position that they would have heard the case, or granted certiorari, due to its nature as an inter-state dispute.
They said it 'falls within our original jurisdiction,' a reference to the Constitutions grant of authority to the Supreme Court to hear such cases. Both have previously said they believe that they have no choice but to hear cases brought by states.
Their statement that they 'would not grant other relief' constitutes a rebuke to the case itself, and it was not required that they telegraph what they would decide.
Stunning blow: Clarence Thomas and Samuel Alito, regarded as the two most outspokenly conservative justices said that they were obliged to take it - and would then have refused to overturn the election
Rejected: Amy Coney Barrett, installed on the high court only in October helped decide the election as Donald Trump had predicted she would - but not in his favor, joining the unanimous rejection
Two more picks who went against him: Neil Gorsuch and Brett Kavanaugh, both raised to the high court by Trump, dashed his hopes they would overturn Joe Biden's victory
But the Court's majority of seven did not believe such a dispute would automatically get a hearing. In the case at hand, which was bound to Trump's own claim to have suffered 'massive' electoral fraud – not a single justice, liberal or conservative, spoke to the substance of his claim.
That would include the Court's newest justice, Amy Coney Barrett, despite Trump having openly discussed the imperative to push through her confirmation in order to hear election disputes.
Three of the justices in the majority: Justices Neil Gorsuch, Brett Kavanaugh, and Barrett, were in the majority voting not to even hear the case.
'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 the nonsense,' said Republican Sen. Ben Sasse of Nebraska, one of the few Republicans to publicly condemn the effort.
It also wiped away any hope Trump had of getting any Bush v. Gore-style intervention from the Court – in an analogy that showed up in pro-Trump legal briefs that overlooked how that Supreme Intervention involved an exceedingly close contest in a single state and a judicial question of whether to stop a count taking place.
Hailing the decision was Pennsylvania's Attorney General Josh Shapiro, whose legal filing eviscerated the claims made by the Texas Republican attorney general.
'Our nation's highest court saw through this seditious abuse of our electoral process. This swift denial should make anyone contemplating further attacks on our election think twice,' he said.
Said Michigan's attorney general Dana Nessel: 'Today's Supreme Court decision is an important reminder that we are a nation of laws, and though some may bend to the desire of a single individual, the courts will not.'
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.
Some of Trump's allies, however, were incensed.
The head of the Republican Party of Texas, Allen West, sent out a statement where he floated the idea of secession.
'Perhaps law-abiding states should bond together and form a Union of states that will abide by the constitution,' he said.
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.
Trump's obsession with the case was such that he even reportedly asked Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) if he would argue the case if the Court agreed to hear it.
With the Supreme Court's refusal to take the case, the next key moment comes Monday, when the electoral college meets in state capitals around the country, effectively ensuring Biden's inauguration.
Biden leads in the electoral college by 306 to 232 electoral votes, unless a 'faithless' elector tries to vote contrary to the popular vote in a state.
A 'safe harbor' period for challenges to the count in each state has already passed.
But that doesn't mean political backing for Trump's continued efforts to rage against the election will end. Throughout weeks' worth of challenges since Election Day, the vast majority of elected Republicans have refused to declare Joe Biden the winner while Trump pursued his options.
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