Arizona’s Supreme Court on Wednesday denied Kari Lake’s request to hear her lawsuit challenging her loss in last year’s gubernatorial race. The lawsuit was based on what the court said was a false claim by Ms. Lake, a Republican, that more than 35,000 unaccounted ballots had been accepted.
In a five-page order written by Chief Justice Robert Brutinel, Miss. was struck down by lower courts. The court determined that most of Lake’s legal claims lacked merit.
“The Court of Appeals correctly resolved these issues,” wrote Chief Justice Brutinel, “and held that petitioner’s challenges on this basis were insufficient to warrant the relief sought under either Arizona or federal law.”
But justices on Wednesday ordered a trial court in Maricopa, Arizona’s most populous county, to further review the county’s procedures for verifying signatures on mail-in ballots, keeping part of his case alive.
The decision was another setback for Ms. Lake, a former television news anchor whose bitter re-election bid was against former President Donald J. It helped him win Trump’s endorsement.
Ms Lake tried to put a positive spin on the verdict Twitter Remanding the signature verification aspect of his case back to the trial court was justified.
“They have built a house of cards in Maricopa County,” Ms. Lake wrote. “I’m not going to knock it over. I’m going to burn it to the ground.
Ms. Lake argued that “a material number” of ballots with inappropriate signatures were accepted in Maricopa County. The Supreme Court adopted an appeals court ruling on the matter, effectively saying that the numbers must be shown to demonstrate the election result “would have been manifestly different, not merely an uncertain assertion.”
She lost to Democrat Katie Hobbs, Arizona’s secretary of state, by just 17,000 of the 2.6 million votes cast in the battleground state — less than one percent of the vote.
Ms. The defendant in Lake’s case, Ms. Representatives for Hobbs did not immediately respond to a request for comment Thursday.
Ms. Lake has repeatedly pointed to technical glitches on Election Day that disrupted some vote counts in Maricopa County, fueling conspiracy theories and unsubstantiated claims.
Stephen Richer, the Maricopa County Recorder and Republican who helps oversee elections, did not immediately respond to a request for comment Thursday, but said Arizona Republic He said he respected the Supreme Court and said an extra judicial review would not change the decision.
“We will continue now and win again for the 30th time,” he said.
Colton Duncan, Ms. Lake’s chief strategist, vowed that Ms. Lake’s lawyers would expose more fraud and corruption.
“Hold on, it’s fun,” he said.
