# Election Day \[Week\]\[Month\[s\]\] \[Year\] 2020 follow-along thread **URL:** \ **Category:** Politics & Elections\ **Created:** [November 3, 2020, 5:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/election-day-week-month-s-year-2020-follow-along-thread/924618 "2020-11-03T05:36:01Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 386
**Author:** ![digs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/digs/32/14889_2.png) [@digs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/digs)\ **Post date:** [December 12, 2020, 2:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/election-day-week-month-s-year-2020-follow-along-thread/924618/7715 "2020-12-12T02:05:33Z")
Do you mind? You’re steaming up my laptop. ---
**Author:** ![Mike\_Mabes](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mike_mabes/32/1782_2.png) [@Mike\_Mabes](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mike_Mabes)\ **Post date:** [December 12, 2020, 2:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/election-day-week-month-s-year-2020-follow-along-thread/924618/7716 "2020-12-12T02:05:41Z")
How many times has something like this been said recently - _Just when you think it could not get more absurd_ - But don’t worry, he is a good guy who is “trying to restore confidence in the system” and says it is he who is “trying to debunk” questions about “suspicious activities” that occurred in the elections. > **[Ron Johnson to bring Ken Starr to testify at controversial hearing on 2020...](https://www.cnn.com/2020/12/11/politics/ron-johnson-ken-starr-2020-election-hearing/index.html)** > > Sen. Ron Johnson, the chairman of the Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee, has invited former independent counsel Ken Starr and attorneys in key battleground states to testify at a controversial hearing next week where he plans to... ---
**Author:** ![BlankSlate](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/blankslate/32/80_2.png) [@BlankSlate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BlankSlate)\ **Post date:** [December 12, 2020, 2:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/election-day-week-month-s-year-2020-follow-along-thread/924618/7717 "2020-12-12T02:06:17Z")
It’s hard not to be saddened by number of Americans who voted for Trump, but if he runs again in 2024, I bet we can top 90 million votes for the Democratic candidate. ---
**Author:** ![dropzone](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dropzone/32/7515_2.png) [@dropzone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dropzone)\ **Post date:** [December 12, 2020, 2:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/election-day-week-month-s-year-2020-follow-along-thread/924618/7718 "2020-12-12T02:08:15Z")
I have no idea how to chat privately on this software. However, the more the merrier. ---
**Author:** ![Mahaloth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mahaloth/32/1079_2.png) [@Mahaloth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mahaloth)\ **Post date:** [December 12, 2020, 2:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/election-day-week-month-s-year-2020-follow-along-thread/924618/7719 "2020-12-12T02:14:02Z")
> [@thorny\_locust](#): > > Alito and Thomas: “would not grant other relief”. Are they saying they would have granted certiorari, but would then have turned down all the other arguments in the suit? From Twitter: > [@](#): > > Justices Alito and Thomas indicated that the court was (in their very consistent view) required to hear the case but that they too “would not grant other relief” - meaning they too wouldn’t sign on to Texas’ request for an injunction throwing out the election. ---
**Author:** ![Northern\_Piper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/northern_piper/32/5304_2.png) [@Northern\_Piper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Northern_Piper)\ **Post date:** [December 12, 2020, 2:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/election-day-week-month-s-year-2020-follow-along-thread/924618/7720 "2020-12-12T02:18:44Z")
> [@thorny\_locust](#): > > Are they saying they would have granted certiorari, but would then have turned down all the other arguments in the suit? This wasn’t a cert. case. Certioriari is the proceudre that is used to seek review of a lower court decision, and is discretionary for the Court. This was an attempt to apply under the Court’s original jurisidciton, not its appellate jurisdiciton. There seems to be some dispute between the judges whether a state can file its petition under the original jurisdiction as of right, even if it is meritless. Alito and Thomas seem to be of the view that a state has a right to file a petition, it’s not subject to the Court even barring the petition. HOwever, even if the petition had been filed, they would not bhave granted any relief, which would be a statement as to the lack of any sound arguments in this case. ---
**Author:** ![susan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/susan/32/17537_2.png) [@susan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/susan)\ **Post date:** [December 12, 2020, 2:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/election-day-week-month-s-year-2020-follow-along-thread/924618/7721 "2020-12-12T02:19:47Z")
> **[Sidney Powell’s secret ‘military intelligence expert,’ key to fraud claims in...](https://www.washingtonpost.com/investigations/sidney-powell-spider-spyder-witness/2020/12/11/0cd567e6-3b2a-11eb-98c4-25dc9f4987e8_story.html)** > > In her lawsuits, Powell describes the purported credentials of the witness known by the code name ‘Spyder.’ The witness told The Post that he spent most of his time in the service as a wheeled vehicle mechanic. …But he never completed the entry-level training course, according to Meredith Mingledorff, a spokeswoman for the U.S. Army Intelligence Center of Excellence, which includes the battalion. “He kept washing out of courses,” said Mingledorff, citing his education records. “He’s not an intelligence analyst.” In an interview, Merritt maintained that he graduated from the intelligence training program. But even by his own account, he was only a trainee with the 305th, at Fort Huachuca in Arizona, and for just seven months more than 15 years ago. His separation papers, which he provided to The Post, make no mention of intelligence training… ---
**Author:** ![dropzone](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dropzone/32/7515_2.png) [@dropzone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dropzone)\ **Post date:** [December 12, 2020, 2:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/election-day-week-month-s-year-2020-follow-along-thread/924618/7722 "2020-12-12T02:23:24Z")
Nellie Bly, I need to apologize to you for making this public. Please forgive me. ---
**Author:** ![thorny\_locust](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thorny_locust/32/431_2.png) [@thorny\_locust](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/thorny_locust)\ **Post date:** [December 12, 2020, 2:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/election-day-week-month-s-year-2020-follow-along-thread/924618/7723 "2020-12-12T02:24:21Z")
> [@Mahaloth](#): > > From Twitter: > > > [@](#): > > > > Justices Alito and Thomas indicated that the court was (in their very consistent view) required to hear the case but that they too “would not grant other relief” - meaning they too wouldn’t sign on to Texas’ request for an injunction throwing out the election. > [@Northern\_Piper](#): > > Alito and Thomas seem to be of the view that a state has a right to file a petition, it’s not subject to the Court even barring the petition. HOwever, even if the petition had been filed, they would not bhave granted any relief, which would be a statement as to the lack of any sound arguments in this case. So 9 to 0 then. Good. > [@Northern\_Piper](#): > > This wasn’t a cert. case. Certioriari is the proceudre that is used to seek review of a lower court decision, and is discretionary for the Court. Thanks. I was misunderstanding the term. ---
**Author:** ![Mahaloth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mahaloth/32/1079_2.png) [@Mahaloth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mahaloth)\ **Post date:** [December 12, 2020, 2:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/election-day-week-month-s-year-2020-follow-along-thread/924618/7724 "2020-12-12T02:32:40Z")
> [@thorny\_locust](#): > > So 9 to 0 then. Yes, they basically would have listened, but no way they were going to overturn a US election. I mean…they are extreme…but come on. I just love that all three of Trump’s justices were 100% silent. They did not dissent in the least. ---
**Author:** ![Northern\_Piper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/northern_piper/32/5304_2.png) [@Northern\_Piper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Northern_Piper)\ **Post date:** [December 12, 2020, 2:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/election-day-week-month-s-year-2020-follow-along-thread/924618/7725 "2020-12-12T02:42:53Z")
There’s an interesting article in the _Independent_ about Trump’s fundamental misunderstanding about what “conservative” judges mean. Hint: it doesn’t mean they support what conservative politicians want. > [@](#): > > Despite his legal team racking up an unprecedented string of more than 50 losses before some of the most conservative jurists in America, Donald Trump still thinks the Supreme Court will find a way to keep him in office. But those who know the Court best — legal experts and some of his top White House lawyers — say his confidence stems from a fundamental misunderstanding, bordering on a delusion, about the 418 men and women who’ve been named to the bench by Republican presidents. > … > But one former Trump administration official said the reason Trump’s challenges are getting knocked down by Trump-appointed judges is because **what the president’s campaign and allies are asking is for judges to do exactly what they were selected to avoid. “That’s the opposite of what conservative justices are — that’s activist as f \* \* k… wading into the three branches of government,” they said.** > … > “I don’t think that he is a student of what conservative legal ideology is,” they said. **“Conservatives, generally, are not judicial activists,** which means they’re not about creating new rights that weren’t there before, or going beyond the four corners of the Constitution… and **it’s that type of… outside-the-box judging that you might need to overturn election results.”** > **[Trump wonders why the Supreme Court Justices he appointed won’t support him....](https://www.independent.co.uk/voices/trump-lawsuits-election-supreme-court-gorsuch-b1770104.html)** > > 'They're not going to burn down their court to rescue Donald Trump… they're neither stupid nor crazy. And for them to do what Trump's asking them to do, they would have to be both stupid and crazy’ ---
**Author:** ![Darren\_Garrison](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/darren_garrison/32/92_2.png) [@Darren\_Garrison](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darren_Garrison)\ **Post date:** [December 12, 2020, 3:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/election-day-week-month-s-year-2020-follow-along-thread/924618/7726 "2020-12-12T03:17:11Z")
> [@susan](#): > > “He kept washing out of courses,” said Mingledorff, citing his education records. “He’s not an intelligence analyst.” I think that they misspelled “intelligent.” ---
**Author:** ![CairoCarol](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cairocarol/32/3825_2.png) [@CairoCarol](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CairoCarol)\ **Post date:** [December 12, 2020, 3:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/election-day-week-month-s-year-2020-follow-along-thread/924618/7727 "2020-12-12T03:24:41Z")
> [@Mahaloth](#): > > I just love that all three of Trump’s justices were 100% silent. They did not dissent in the least. More than “love,” I feel profound relief. When RBG died, I was terrified that Trump would immediately appoint a new judge, in time for the election, that there would be a big mess in one or more states over the process, and that the Supremes would then vote in a way that handed the election to Trump. It certainly could have turned out that way, but thankfully that scenario did not come to pass. ---
**Author:** ![Whack-a-Mole](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/whack-a-mole/32/141_2.png) [@Whack-a-Mole](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Whack-a-Mole)\ **Post date:** [December 12, 2020, 3:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/election-day-week-month-s-year-2020-follow-along-thread/924618/7728 "2020-12-12T03:29:57Z")
> [@Northern\_Piper](#): > > Alito and Thomas seem to be of the view that a state has a right to file a petition, it’s not subject to the Court even barring the petition. Is there some reason to disagree with them on this? I thought I am free to bring a case to trial, even a bad case. It gets sorted out there. The only caveat being I am under the impression a lawyer is supposed to be a gatekeeper and refuse to file truly ridiculous cases that waste a court’s time. This also might be a ridiculous case but it is a state filing it so there’s no filter. So sure, they can file and the supreme court just hands back a terse “no”. The end. Maybe they could recommend the Texas Bar Association has a look at the Texas AG for sanctions for being a complete idiot and wasting the court’s time. That’d be cool. ---
**Author:** ![Max\_S](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/46a35a/32.png) [@Max\_S](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Max_S)\ **Post date:** [December 12, 2020, 4:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/election-day-week-month-s-year-2020-follow-along-thread/924618/7729 "2020-12-12T04:16:14Z")
I still would rather have had Justice Barrett abstain. ~Max ---
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [December 12, 2020, 4:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/election-day-week-month-s-year-2020-follow-along-thread/924618/7730 "2020-12-12T04:20:23Z")
> [@Whack-a-Mole](#): > > Is there some reason to disagree with them on this? Yes. They didnt decide to not hear it based on merits. They ruled Texas had no standing to bring suit in the first place. Which is true. In fact they didnt even have to read the case to figure that out. ---
**Author:** ![thorny\_locust](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thorny_locust/32/431_2.png) [@thorny\_locust](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/thorny_locust)\ **Post date:** [December 12, 2020, 4:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/election-day-week-month-s-year-2020-follow-along-thread/924618/7731 "2020-12-12T04:23:43Z")
> [@Mahaloth](#): > > no way they were going to overturn a US election. I mean…they are extreme…but come on. I was pretty sure of that. But I’d also have been pretty sure, until it happened, that 17 US states weren’t going to try to overturn one, either. ---
**Author:** ![Whack-a-Mole](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/whack-a-mole/32/141_2.png) [@Whack-a-Mole](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Whack-a-Mole)\ **Post date:** [December 12, 2020, 4:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/election-day-week-month-s-year-2020-follow-along-thread/924618/7732 "2020-12-12T04:26:24Z")
Even more reason the Texas AG should be sanctioned by the Bar Association. If a Con Law student can tell you it was ridiculous I’d think your local Bar should have a word with you. ---
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [December 12, 2020, 5:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/election-day-week-month-s-year-2020-follow-along-thread/924618/7733 "2020-12-12T05:55:06Z")
Yes. Some of the lawyers who’ve filed and argued for these utterly baseless, political, harebrained, off-the-wall lawsuits ought to be facing attorney disciplinary hearings toot sweet. ---
**Author:** ![amarinth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/3be4f8/32.png) [@amarinth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/amarinth)\ **Post date:** [December 12, 2020, 6:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/election-day-week-month-s-year-2020-follow-along-thread/924618/7734 "2020-12-12T06:04:20Z")
I’m tired of winning. There’s been so much winning and I’m tired of it. I want them to just stay down. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/election-day-week-month-s-year-2020-follow-along-thread/924618.md?page=385) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/election-day-week-month-s-year-2020-follow-along-thread/924618.md?page=387)