Trump’s legal team wanted Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas to rule on their lawsuits challenging the 2020 election because they believed he would be their “only chance” at a ruling that could overturn the results, emails reported by Politico show, as Thomas has already come under fire for participating in election-related cases as his wife supported efforts to challenge the vote count.
Trump’s attorneys should frame a lawsuit over Georgia’s election result “so that Thomas could be the one to issue” an order “saying Georgia is in legitimate doubt,” Trump attorney Kenneth Cheseboro wrote in an email on December 31, 2020, Politico reports.
Cheseboro added Thomas was “our only chance to get a favorable judicial opinion by Jan. 6,” which he suggested “might hold up the Georgia count in Congress” and delay lawmakers from certifying the election result.
Trump attorney John Eastman responded, “I think I agree with this,” Politico reports, adding such a ruling by Thomas could “kick the Georgia legislature into gear” and persuade them to overturn the results—noting he received messages from legislators “indicating to me they’re leaning that way.”
Thomas is the Supreme Court Justice who hears cases that come from the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals, which includes Georgia, so he could have issued an emergency order in a Georgia-based election case that temporarily blocked Congress from certifying the results himself without referring it to the full court.
The email exchange was part of eight emails from Eastman that were turned over to the House January 6 Committee in response to a court order, as a federal judge ruled they were not shielded by attorney-client privilege.
Trump’s legal team ultimately did not challenge Georgia’s election results at the Supreme Court—they did bring a lawsuit in the lower courts, which ultimately failed—but they did bring other cases protesting results in Pennsylvania and Wisconsin to the high court, which were unsuccessful.
“[I]f we can just get this case pending before the Supreme Court by Jan. 5, ideally with something positive written by a judge or justice, hopefully Thomas, I think it’s our best shot at holding up the count of a state in Congress,” Chesebro wrote.
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