State high court won't take Trump suit over election result

Posted at 4 p.m. on Thursday, December 3, 2020

The Brillion News

MADISON - The Supreme Court of Wisconsin rejected a request by Donald Trump to take original jurisdiction of the lawsuit the president filed against Governor Tony Evers, challenging the results of the presidential election in Wisconsin.

The order was released on Thursday, December 3.

Justice Brian Hagedorn said state law is clear: any challenge of election results must begin in county circuit courts, period.

"I join the court's denial of the petition for original action [by the Supreme Court] so that the petitioners may promptly exercise their right to pursue these claims in the manner prescribed by the legislature,m" Justice Hagedorn wrote.

He noted that there are disputed facts over the conduct of the presidential election here, and sorting them out is a responsibility assigned by state law to a circuit court, not the Superme Court.

Chief Justice Patience Roggensack dissented, saying the high court could take the case directly.

"Our jurisdiction arises from the Wisconsin Constitution and cannot be impeded by statute," she wrote.

She said the four justices in the majority "are ignoring that there are significant time constraints that may preclude our deciding significant legal issues that cry out for resolution by the Wisconsin Supreme Court."

Justice Rebecca Grassl Bradley, also among the three dissenting justices, said that the high court was shunning its responsibility by not taking the case.

She cited case law that suggests the case could undermine public confidence in the outcome of a presidential election.

She said the Supreme Court's decision to not take the case risks perpetuating violations of election laws.

~ Ed Byrne/BN from the original court order in 2020AP1971-OA