Conservative Majority Seems Ready to Limit Election Case Against Trump

[David Lockmiller]

(04-30-2024 11:13 AM)Gene C Wrote:  I don't trust the press to accurately report the news as much as I used to.
Too many reporters will deliberately misquote, take statements out of context and tell you what they think the speaker meant to say, not what they actually said.

And you can quote me on that -

Here are Justice Alito’s actual words according to U. S. Supreme Court’s transcript of the hearing (at pages 110 – 112):

JUSTICE ALITO: All right. Let me end -- end with just a question about what is required for the functioning of a stable democratic society, which is something that we all want. I'm sure you would agree with me that a stable democratic society requires that a candidate who loses an election, even a close one, even a hotly contested one, leave office peacefully if that candidate is -- is the incumbent.

MR. DREEBEN: Of course.

JUSTICE ALITO: All right. Now, if a -- an incumbent who loses a very close, hotly contested election knows that a real possibility after leaving office is not that the president is going to be able to go off into a peaceful retirement but that the president may be criminally prosecuted by a bitter political opponent, will that not lead us into a cycle that destabilizes the functioning of our country as a democracy? And we can look around the world and find countries where we have seen this process, where the loser gets thrown in jail.

MR. DREEBEN: So, I think it's exactly the opposite, Justice Alito. There are lawful mechanisms to contest the results in an election. And outside the record but I think of public knowledge, Petitioner and his allies filed dozens of electoral challenges and, in my understanding, has lost all but one that was not outcome determinative in any respect. There were judges that -- that said, in order to sustain substantial claims of fraud that would overturn an election result that's certified by a state, you need evidence, you need proof. And none of those things were manifested. So, there is an appropriate way to challenge things through the courts with evidence. If you lose, you accept the results. That has been the nation's experience. I think the Court is well familiar with that.
(emphasis added)

JUSTICE ALITO: All right. Thank you.