December 9 political news briefs

Here are today’s political news briefs.

The U.S. Supreme Court on Tuesday night denied a request from Pennsylvania Republicans to block the state from certifying its election results. Justice Alito issued a one-sentence order to deny it, and there were no public dissents (no other justices wrote down that they disagreed with Alito).

SCOTUS Blog explained that Rep. Mike Kelly (R-PA) argued that Pennsylvania’s expansion of mail-in voting was unconstitutional and wanted the Supreme Court to void millions of mail-in ballots. The Pennsylvania Supreme Court said it was too late because Rep. Kelly waited until after the election to file a complaint. This is yet another loss in court for the Trump side.

This case is not related to the Texas lawsuit filed on Monday that challenges election results in Georgia, Michigan, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin. The Supreme Court will respond to Texas by Thursday, December 10 at 3 p.m. President Trump tweeted that this is the “big one” and said the White House would get involved.

In separate news, the Nevada Supreme Court ruled 6-0 on Tuesday night to reject an appeal from President Trump’s campaign to overturn the state’s election results that pointed to a Biden victory. The Nevada court said there was no evidence supporting fraud and wrongdoing.

The Washington Post said the Trump side has lost about 50 challenges to the presidential election in the past five weeks.

To remind you, the Attorney General William Barr said a few weeks ago that the U.S. Justice Department has not found any evidence of fraud on a level that would affect the election outcome.

Axios reported that Republican leaders in the House and Senate told the White House they support adding a $600 stimulus check in the next round of a coronavirus relief package. The bill is still being negotiated in Congress. Democratic leaders want more money for unemployment insurance, saying the latest $916 billion offer from Republicans was unacceptable because it cut down unemployment from $180 billion to $40 billion. The negotiations have been going on for several months.

Today President-elect Joe Biden officially introduced retired four-star Army general Lloyd Austin as his pick for the Defense Secretary. He would be the first Black person to lead the Pentagon if he is confirmed. He retired in 2016, so there will have to be a congressional waiver before he can get the position because it is less than seven years since his retirement from active duty. Biden’s transition team said they expect Austin to be involved with the logistics of Covid-19 vaccine distribution.

Biden said yesterday that he wants to deliver 100 million vaccines during his first 100 days in office. He wants to require all American people to wear masks for his first 100 days and will enforce it in federal buildings and interstate travel. Biden said he wants to turn things around so the majority of schools can be reopened during his first 100 days.

That’s all the political news briefs for today.

https://www.scotusblog.com/2020/12/justices-wont-stop-pennsylvania-from-certifying-election-for-biden/

https://www.politico.com/news/2020/12/08/biden-pledges-vaccinations-reopen-schools-443733

https://www.washingtonpost.com/nation/2020/12/09/nevada-supreme-court-trump-election-results/

https://www.axios.com/kevin-mccarthy-gop-leader-600-payments-coronavirus-stimulus-18861410-1ec0-4d93-a0d5-c1bb97ac69da.html

https://www.nytimes.com/live/2020/12/09/us/joe-biden-donald-trump?type=styln-live-updates&label=presidential%20transition&index=0&action=click&module=Spotlight&pgtype=Homepage

https://www.cbsnews.com/news/biden-covid-vaccine-100-million-doses-first-100-days/