US Supreme Court rejects Kelli Ward lawsuit over Arizona election

PHOENIX – The U.S. Supreme Court put a lid on Arizona Republican Party Chairwoman Kelli Ward’s failed bid to overturn the state’s presidential election results.

Ward’s case was among several filed by former President Donald Trump and his allies that were rejected Monday by the highest court in the land.

Cases challenging the results in Georgia, Michigan, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin – which, like Arizona, were won by President Joe Biden — also were denied.

Ward’s lawsuit had received the same treatment in Arizona. Most recently, the state Supreme Court denied her appeal on Dec. 8, concluding that she hadn’t presented any evidence of misconduct in her challenge of ballots in Maricopa County. She appealed that decision to the U.S. Supreme Court three days later.

Previously, a Maricopa County Superior Court judge ruled that Ward failed to prove fraud in her challenge of results in metro Phoenix and that evidence presented at trial wouldn’t reverse Trump’s loss.

Other than the disputes from Pennsylvania, the federal justices’ decision not to hear the cases was unsurprising. The court had previously taken no action in those cases and in January had turned away pleas that the cases be fast-tracked, again suggesting the justices were not interested in hearing them.

At the same time, the justices’ decision not to hear Pennsylvania disputes involving a Republican challenge to state courts’ power over federal elections continued to provoke strong feelings from some of the justices. On Monday, three of the nine justices said the court should have taken up the issue.

“A decision in these cases would not have any implications regarding the 2020 election. … But a decision would provide invaluable guidance for future elections,” Justice Samuel Alito wrote. Justice Clarence Thomas and Justice Neil Gorsuch also would have taken up the issue.

Thomas wrote that the court was inviting “further confusion and erosion of voter confidence” by not taking up the issue.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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