Trump Attacks the Supreme Court; Offers Bizarre Praise To Justices Alito, Thomas After Losing 2020 Election Lawsuit

President Donald Trump refused late Friday night and into Saturday morning to admit defeat after the U.S. Supreme Court scuttled a case he touted as critically important to his dreams of winning the 2020 election.  A volley of Trump tweets attacking the Court began shortly before midnight and included a rather stilted reading of what actually happened when the court tossed the case. The tweets included a piece by conservative commentator Todd Starnes that thanked Justices Samuel Alito and Clarence Thomas for issuing a “statement” partially against the court’s decision to slap down a pro-Trump lawsuit.  The litigation was attempted on behalf of the State of Texas by its indicted attorney general, Ken Paxton , against several key states where President-Elect Joe Biden won the popular vote.  The Alito/Thomas statement — which Starnes (but not the justices themselves) described as a “dissent” — said the court should have permitted Paxton to actually file his case because it fell within the court’s original jurisdiction to hear lawsuits between states.  Critically, both Alito and Thomas said they  “would not grant other relief” sought by Paxton.  The pair said they “express[ed] no view on any other issue.”  Though the Alito/Thomas statement has been criticized by lawyers for being imprecisely written , the consensus is that Paxton would have have lost after filing his case under the Alito/Thomas view rather than not being allowed to file it at all under the majority view of the other seven justices.  Naturally, Starnes’s piece, which Trump tacitly endorsed, slammed justices Amy Coney Barrett , Neil Gorsuch , and Brett Kavanaugh for remaining “silent” in the litigation. Trump had earlier attempted to join the Paxton litigation as an intervenor. The president then parroted an incomplete take by Sean Hannity on what Alito and Thomas did: “Justices Alito and Thomas say they would have allowed Texas to proceed with its election lawsuit.” @seanhannity This is a great and disgraceful miscarriage of justice. The people of the United States were cheated, and our Country disgraced. Never even given our day in Court! — Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) December 12, 2020 Notably, the tweets said nothing of the portion of the Alito/Thomas statement which indicated those justices “would not grant other relief” to Paxton, Trump’s ally. The strange and arguably misplaced singling out of Alito and Thomas as praiseworthy justices drew its own criticism from Georgetown Law Prof. Josh Chafetz : If Alito and Thomas are the only good justices now because (in Trumpworld's misreading) they alone wanted to help him steal the election, doesn't that mean that Trump is really bad at picking justices? And isn't picking judges one of the GOP's main reasons for supporting Trump? pic.twitter.com/dXLHVSl0FX — Josh Chafetz (@joshchafetz) December 12, 2020 Trump’s attacks on the Supreme Court began just before midnight Friday. “The Supreme Court really let us down,” the president tweeted. “No Wisdom, No Courage!” The Supreme Court really let us down. No Wisdom, No Courage! — Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) December 12, 2020 A few minutes later, Trump said he only “purportedly lost” the election: 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. You can’t get “standing” before the Supreme Court, so you “intervene” with wonderful states….. — Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) December 12, 2020 ….that, 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! — Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) December 12, 2020 Trump then joined laments from other Republicans that the courts were not taking up elections cases on their merits but rather were dismissing the filings on procedural or other legal grounds: “We’ve not gotten any court to judge this (the vote) on its merit.” @DanPatrick of Texas. It is a legal disgrace, an embarrassment to the USA!!! — Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) December 12, 2020 The missives went on Saturday morning with references to Georgia GOP promises to dig into what happened in that state.  Trump then retweeted comments by Press Secretary Kayleigh McEnany , who said on Fox News the Supreme Court of “dodged,” “hid behind procedure,” and “refused to use their authority to enforce the constitution.” Trump then went on to repeat his claim that he “won . . . in a landslide” and suggested that Biden’s occupancy of the White House was an “if,” not a “when.” I WON THE ELECTION IN A LANDSLIDE, but remember, I only think in terms of legal votes, not all of the fake voters and fraud that miraculously floated in from everywhere! What a disgrace! — Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) December 12, 2020 IF Biden gets in, nothing will happen to Hunter or Joe. Barr will do nothing, and the new group of partisan killers coming in will quickly kill it all. Same thing with Durham. We caught them cold, spying, treason & more (the hard part), but “Justice” took too long. Will be DOA! — Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) December 12, 2020 WE HAVE JUST BEGUN TO FIGHT!!! — Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) December 12, 2020 Trump again circled back to the issue of legal standing while pummeling the court’s alleged disinterest in the merits of the litigation launched either by his own attorneys or their allies. The Supreme Court had ZERO interest in the merits of the greatest voter fraud ever perpetrated on the United States of America. All they were interested in is “standing”, which makes it very difficult for the President to present a case on the merits. 75,000,000 votes! — Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) December 12, 2020 Sen. Ben Sasse , a Nebraska Republican, joined the chorus of those who told Trump to pipe down.  Sasse called the election lawsuits “nonsense” and reminded Trump that his own three Supreme Court picks tossed his 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. pic.twitter.com/QyNhvVc15p — Senator Ben Sasse (@SenSasse) December 12, 2020 [image via Alex Wong/Getty Images]
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