The Supreme Court rejected all Republican lawsuits over the handling of the 2020 presidential election. On Monday (February 22), the justices refused to hear eight cases, including election-related cases in Pennsylvania, Georgia, Wisconsin, Michigan, and Arizona.
Justices Clarence Thomas, Samuel Alito, and Neil Gorsuch dissented in the Pennsylvania case. That case involved a decision by the Pennsylvania Supreme Court to count mail-in ballots that were postmarked by election day and received up to three days later.
While Republicans admitted the votes received after election day were not enough to change the results of the election, they argued the state Supreme Court lacked the authority to change a deadline that was enacted by the legislature.
The Democrats argued that the court had the power to "make a sensible, modest adjustment of mail-in voting procedures in response to an extraordinary public health crisis and the U.S. Postal Service's self-declared shortcomings."
Justice Thomas wrote in his dissent that he was baffled by the decision not to hear the challenge.
"Our refusal to do so by hearing these cases is befuddling. There is a clear split on an issue of such great importance that both sides previously asked us to grant certiorari. And there is no dispute that the claim is sufficiently meritorious to warrant review," Thomas wrote.
Pennsylvania Governor Tom Wolf said that "it's time to "move on" after the court rejected the challenge to the election.
"Pennsylvania had a free and fair election — that's a fact," he wrote on Facebook. "Thank you to the millions of voters who turned out to make their voices heard and to the election workers and volunteers who served admirably. It's time to move on."
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