October 30, 2024

UOW expert: Trump using the courts to sow seeds of doubt before election

Professor Markus Wagner says extending the political battlefield to the courts risks long-term damage to democracy

United States constitutional law expert Professor Markus Wagner can discuss unprecedented legal challenges currently underway in the lead up to the 5 November US presidential election.

In an article for The Conversation Professor Wagner says elections are not always won or lost at the polls.

“Increasingly, court proceedings are used to achieve desired political outcomes,” Professor Wagner said.

“During the 2020 elections, legal battles were largely waged in the courts after voting day. Then-President Donald Trump, unwilling to concede the election, filed 62 lawsuits, withdrew many of them, and lost the remainder.”

Professor Wagner says Democrats now face a Republican Party and a supporting cast of characters that has drawn lessons from their failure to overturn the 2020 election results in court. Besides restricting voting access, Republicans and their allies in state legislatures are preparing the ground to restrict vote counting.

“This has resulted in more than 165 lawsuits, mostly initiated by Republicans or their allies in a self-proclaimed ‘unprecedented legal strategy’,” Professor Wagner said.

“Cases run the gamut from voter eligibility, to the counting of absentee ballots, to vote certification.”

In the end Professor Wagner says this strategy is all about who wins the presidency.

“What makes 2024 different is that Trump’s 2020 efforts targeted the outcome of the elections. While this strategy was unsuccessful, it contributed to the atmosphere that culminated in the storming of the Congress on January 6, 2021,” Professor Wagner said.

“In 2024, the aim is to sow doubts about the legitimacy of the election process. This has the potential to result in a chilling effect on voting, given that US elections are turnout elections.

“Extending the political battlefield to the courts to limit or remove votes, or delay the results, risks long-term damage to democracy by calling into question the legitimacy of the electoral process.”