Judge Throws Out Trump Election Lawsuit in Alaska Seeking to Block Senate Certification
U.S. District Judge Sharon Gleason on Sunday dismissed the Justice Department's suit to segregate ballots cast for Daniel J. Sullivan and delay Alaska's Senate certification if Sen. Dan Sullivan loses — ruling the government had no standing and 'no workable plan' that preserved the secret ballot. The DOJ quickly filed a notice of appeal, CNN reported.
A federal judge in Anchorage on Sunday threw out the Trump administration's lawsuit seeking to block Alaska from certifying a loss by Republican Senator Dan Sullivan in the November 3 election if votes for a rival who shares his name could have changed the outcome, Reuters reported. U.S. District Judge Sharon Gleason dismissed United States v. Alaska, ruling the government failed to establish standing — specifically the redressability requirement — in a 20-page order, according to CBS News reporting carried in the accounts read this cycle.
The Justice Department sued on October 22 after a second candidate, Daniel J. Sullivan, a retired schoolteacher running unaffiliated, landed on the same ranked-choice ballot as the Republican incumbent, Sen. Dan Sullivan, who faces Democrat Mary Peltola in a race that could help decide control of the Senate. The department asked the court to bar certification of any result 'impacted by voter confusion' pending an investigation into whether votes cast for Daniel J. Sullivan were meant for the senator, per the complaint as reported. Gleason wrote that the United States 'provides no workable plan' for segregating those ballots and investigating voters' intent 'in a manner that would preserve voter secrecy,' and that requiring segregation so voters could be investigated by law enforcement 'is not a remedy that this Court can or should order.' Alaska's ballot identifies the candidates' parties and labels Sen. Sullivan as the incumbent, and its ranked-choice system lets voters rank both men, per the accounts read.
The ruling is the latest blow to the administration's effort to expand the federal government's role in elections, which the Constitution assigns to the states, Reuters reported. CNN reported the Justice Department quickly filed a notice of appeal following Sunday's ruling. It came two days after a federal appeals court on Friday rejected a separate Justice Department demand that California set aside ballots from some 20,000 voters the administration claims could be noncitizens — a fight covered elsewhere in today's file.
