US Supreme Court dumps last of Trump's election appeals

The US Supreme Court on Monday disposed of the last of three cases brought to the justices by former President Donald Trump challenging his election loss, bringing a muted end to his quixotic quest in the courts that had been aimed at holding onto power.

The court without comment rejected Trump's appeal challenging thousands of absentee ballots filed in Wisconsin, an election battleground that the Republican businessman-turned-politician lost to Democrat Joe Biden by more than 20,000 votes. Biden became president on Jan. 20.

It was the last of three petitions filed at the Supreme Court near the end of Trump's presidency that the justices declined to take up. The court on Feb. 22 turned away Trump's other two appeals - a second Wisconsin challenge and one relating to voting in Pennsylvania, another pivotal state Trump lost. Lower courts previously had ruled against Trump in those three cases.

It already was clear that the high court, which includes three justices appointed by Trump, had no intention to intervene in the cases and others filed by his allies because it did not act before Congress on Jan. 6 certified Biden's victory. That formal certification was interrupted when a pro-Trump mob stormed the US Capitol.

The court on Monday also turned away another election related case filed by Trump ally Lin Wood, who had asked the justices to block the Jan. 5 Senate runoff elections in Georgia. The court never acted on the request and Democrats won both races, giving them narrow control of the Senate.