Georgia Supreme Court rejects latest Trump election appeal

ATLANTA — The Georgia Supreme Court has rejected an appeal by President Donald Trump’s lawyers to overturn the state’s election results.

The president filed the lawsuit in the Fulton County Superior court on Dec. 4. On Friday, his lawyers appealed directly to the Supreme Court.

The appeal asked the court to hear the case before Monday, the day that the Electoral College is set to formally name Joe Biden the next president.

The Supreme Court said in a judgement filed late Saturday night that they do not have the jurisdiction to consider the petition, and that they have dismissed it.

The suit, which was similar to other Trump team legal challenges that made baseless allegations of widespread fraud in Georgia’s presidential election - was initially rejected by the Fulton County Superior Court because the paperwork was improperly completed and it lacked the appropriate filing fees.

In a brief order, justices wrote that “petitioners have not shown that this is one of those extremely rare cases that would invoke our original jurisdiction.”

[SPECIAL SECTION: Election 2020]

It’s the latest legal setback in the president’s efforts to overturn the election results. On Friday the U.S. Supreme Court rejected a lawsuit backed by Trump seeking to overturn Democrat Joe Biden’s election victory, a move that ended a desperate attempt to get legal issues rejected by state and federal judges before the nation’s highest court.

Even as lawsuits filed by Trump and his allies have been rejected around the country, the president has continued to make repeated baseless claims of widespread fraud. In Georgia, he has rained criticism on Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger and Gov. Brian Kemp, both fellow Republicans.

Raffensperger has been steadfast in his defense of the integrity of the election in the state, and Kemp has said he has no power to intervene in elections.

Results certified by Raffensperger last month showed that Biden led by a margin of 12,670 votes, or 0.25% of the roughly 5 million ballots cast. An audit involving a hand count of the paper ballots also showed Biden won.

Last week, Raffensberger again recertified the state’s election results after a recount requested by Trump confirmed once again that Biden won the state, and the governor then recertified the state’s 16 presidential electors.

“We have now counted legally cast ballots three times, and the results remain unchanged,” Raffensperger said during a news conference at the state Capitol.

GEORGIA VOTER GUIDE:

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The Associated Press contributed to this report.