Ex-Trump attorney files legal Hail Mary, asks Supreme Court to review Michigan case

A team of attorneys relying on conspiracies and misinformation to argue President Donald Trump actually won the election in Michigan filed a legal long shot Friday in the hopes the U.S. Supreme Court will take up their case before the Electoral College votes on Monday. 

© Ben Margot, AP
Attorney Sidney Powell speaks during a rally on Wednesday, Dec. 2, 2020, in Alpharetta, Georgia.

Local and national legal experts told the Free Press on Saturday the court will not take up the request, but said the efforts of Sidney Powell and her team continue to undermine the will of voters in Michigan and confidence in the electoral system. 

“I don’t think they have any chance of success. I think they have zero chance of success” Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel said in a phone interview Saturday, adding her team was recently made aware of the filing. 

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“If the Supreme Court was going to entertain any of these cases, I would say that that case was one of the worst filings that I had seen. I don’t respect really any of the filings that came out of this, but that one was particularly egregious.”  

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Late Friday, Powell and her team filed a request with the U.S. Supreme Court, asking it to take up a case previously filed in a Detroit federal court. The Free Press obtained a copy of the filing on Saturday. 

The request came at roughly the same time the court rejected a request from Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton to a hear a case where he argued the results in Michigan and other swing states should be overturned. 

There is no indication the Supreme Court will entertain the filing over the weekend. Gregory Rohl, a Michigan attorney working with Powell, said Saturday, “given the time parameters involved it was the only viable option.”

On Dec. 7, U.S. District Court Judge Linda Parker denied the Powell team’s request to force Gov. Gretchen Whitmer to overturn the state’s election results, saying the case appeared to be less about winning and more about “the impact of their allegations on People’s faith in the democratic process and their trust in our government.” President-elect Joe Biden earned  154,000 more votes in Michigan than Trump. 

While Powell’s team has asked the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 6th Circuit to review Parker’s decision, the filing Friday asks the Supreme Court to intervene before the appeals court has a chance to take up the case. 

It is highly unusual for the Supreme Court to agree to ignore traditional legal channels and take up a case that has not been heard by an appellate court. 

Rick Hasen, an election law expert and professor at the University of California-Irvine, called it an “extremely rare maneuver.”

“It’s not going to happen for a crack pot lawsuit,” Hasen said in an email Saturday. 

Although Powell’s team acknowledges in its filing it would be a rare move, they argue the court must act to prevent Biden from winning the Electoral College vote on Monday. 

“The issues raised are weighty as they call into question who is the legitimate winner of the 2020 presidential election. These exceptional circumstances warrant the exercise of the Court’s discretionary powers,” the filing states in part. 

Later, Powell and her team note, “once the electoral votes are cast, subsequent relief would be pointless.” 

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Powell filed this original lawsuit in federal court in Detroit, arguing — among many other claims proffered without proof — that an international conspiracy involving nefarious actors in China and Iran infiltrated voting systems in Michigan and other states in an effort to ensure Trump lost the election. At no point has Powell, or anyone else, presented credible evidence of widespread election fraud. The filing did include allegations of fraud in Edison County — there is no Edison County, in Michigan or any other state. 

Although Powell previously appeared at news conferences with Rudy Giuliani and other attorneys working with Trump’s election efforts, the campaign has since sought to distance itself from her work. 

David Fink, an attorney who represents the city of Detroit, agreed the request to the Supreme Court would fail. 

“Apparently, in their zeal to advance their delusional claims, they think the court rules and laws don’t apply to them,” Fink said in a phone interview Saturday. 

“It’s time for all of these Republican lawyers to accept the will of the people.” 

On Monday, Michigan’s 16 representatives to the Electoral College will meet in the state Senate chamber. They will cast their votes for Biden, who earned more than 270 electoral votes required to win the presidency. He will assume the office Jan. 20. 

Contact Dave Boucher at [email protected] or 313-938-4591. Follow him on Twitter @Dave_Boucher1.

This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Ex-Trump attorney files legal Hail Mary, asks Supreme Court to review Michigan case