One of the major legal issues in the Michigan case is the same as that involved in the notorious 2000 U.S. Supreme Court decision in Bush v. Gore: whether state courts are the final authorities in interpreting state laws.
In Bush v. Gore, the 5-4 majority of the Supreme Court overruled the Florida state Supreme Court in its interpretation of Florida state election laws, in order to achieve its desired result, shutting down the Florida recount and awarding the White House to Bush.
This was a gross violation of federalism, which the right-wing majority ordinarily claimed to support in countless rulings upholding Republican-led state governments opposing federal policies. To cover up the contradiction, the court majority simply declared that Bush v. Gore should not be used as a precedent.
And in the Michigan case, Judge Goldsmith has taken the diametric opposite position from Bush v. Gore, deciding that he is bound to accept a state court interpretation of state law, no matter how much he may disagree with it, on the grounds of federalism.
The anti-democratic character of these legal maneuvers is demonstrated by the fact that both "federalism" and anti-federalism have been asserted as overriding principles in order to achieve the same practical end: shutting down a recount and preserving a Republican victory in the presidential election.
A recount of the presidential election is continuing in Wisconsin, one of the three states narrowly won by Trump where attorneys for Jill Stein have filed legal challenges. Trump led by 22,557 votes in the state, and with about 70 percent of the votes recounted, Clinton has gained only 82 votes. The Wisconsin Elections Commission reported Wednesday that half the counties had completed recounts and the others would finish before a December 12 deadline.
No recount has yet begun in Pennsylvania, although Trump's margin of victory has been slashed substantially, to just over 44,000 votes, after county clerks completed tabulation of overseas and challenged ballots. This is down sharply from the 126,000-vote margin reported in initial returns, and the 69,000-vote margin at the time Stein filed for a recount.
The 44,000 figure is still slightly above the state's automatic trigger for a statewide recount, which is 0.5 percent of the vote, about 30,000 votes in the case of the presidential contest.
Federal District Judge Paul Diamond in Philadelphia has scheduled a hearing for Friday, December 9, on Stein's request for a recount, only four days before the federal deadline for states to certify their election results. State Republican Party officials and the Trump campaign have deliberately dragged out the legal proceedings so that they can then argue that there is not enough time to conduct a recount before the deadline, which is six days before the formal meeting of the Electoral College on December 19.
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