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DOJ Defends Lawsuit to Block Alaska Senate Certification
· Confirmed
In Short: Attorney General Todd Blanche defended the Department of Justice's lawsuit aimed at blocking Alaska's Senate election certification if the Republican incumbent loses.
Attorney General Todd Blanche defended the Department of Justice's lawsuit aimed at blocking Alaska's Senate election certification if the Republican incumbent loses, arguing that Alaskans risk having their votes nullified by confusion.
Blanche cited the National Voter Registration Act, alleging that votes for Daniel J. Sullivan, a registered Republican incumbent, could be confused with another candidate named Daniel J. Sullivan.
Pressed by CNN host Dana Bash, Blanche declined to confirm whether President Donald Trump had specifically instructed him to pursue the case, citing the confidentiality of his communications with the president.
Blanche argued that the lawsuit seeks to ensure that Alaskan voters were not misled or confused, and that the case is ultimately for Alaska and its courts to settle.
The lawsuit has drawn criticism from legal experts, with some calling it a political maneuver and others questioning its merit.
Professor Richard H Pildes of New York University said the lawsuit is one of the weakest election lawsuits he has ever seen.
Mary Peltola’s campaign called the suit a “despicable political threat to overturn an election,” while Peltola said the dispute was a diversion from affordability issues.
Blanche told CNN that the administration was not laying groundwork for Trump to overturn election results, insisting that Trump is not trying to take over a state election.
The lawsuit was signed by Associate Attorney General Stanley Woodward, who had represented several people accused of participating in the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol.
Blanche’s defense of the lawsuit came amid heated exchanges on CNN’s State of the Union, where he called Bash’s suggestion of a Jan. 6 repeat “crazy.”
What's confirmed
- The lawsuit centers on allegations that a candidate named Daniel J.
What's still developing
- The DOJ is asking the court to block certification in any scenario where, had all votes cast for Daniel J.
- Blanche cited the confidentiality of his communications with the president as his reason for not directly answering, drawing a firm line around his interactions with the White House.
- President Donald Trump stated on Friday that he personally directed the DOJ to file the lawsuit, marking an unusual degree of presidential involvement in an active legal challenge to an election outcome.
- Ohio GOP gubernatorial candidate Vivek Ramaswamy refuses to withdrawal an explosive attack ad, and President Trump greenlights the DOJ to file a lawsuit about Alaska's senate race.
- The lawsuit, Becker said, “raises serious concerns about political interference” and that he could not remember “ever attempting to stop the certification of an election – and certainly not 11 days before polls close”.
- “This litigation seeks to ensure that after Alaskans cast their ballots, they are preserved in a manner so that only Alaska’s governing officials have the information necessary to make a determination as to whether Alaskan voters were confused or mislead [sic],” Blanche wrote.
- “The DOJ’s lawsuit is completely meritless,” Michael Morley, the Sheila M.
- Earlier this week he had said the Justice Department could get involved in the vote certification process in a "doomsday" scenario.
- The exchange grew heated when Bash raised Blanche's "doomsday" remark to reporters in Virginia.
- "Oh, you got to stop it with that. You are not being a real person. Come on, man," Blanche replied, calling the suggestion "crazy."
- “I will never talk about any communications I have with the president of the United States,” he said, refusing to elaborate further on the directive.
- “The legal claim is so absurdly thin, there’s essentially no likelihood of success,” said Derek Mueller, a law professor at the University of Notre Dame, in a blogpost.