Sasse: Supreme Court ‘closed the book’ on election ‘nonsense’

Sen. Ben Sasse (R-Neb.) said on Friday that the Supreme Court “closed the book on the nonsense” by rejecting a push led by Texas to overturn President-elect Joe Biden’s election win. 

“Since Election Night, a lot of people have been confusing voters by spinning Kenyan Birther-type, ‘Chavez rigged the election from the grave’ conspiracy theories, but every American who cares about the rule of law should take comfort that the Supreme Court — including all three of President Trump’s picks — closed the book on the nonsense,” Sasse said in a statement. 

Sasse is one of the first congressional Republicans to react to the Supreme Court’s decision. He’s one of only a handful of Senate Republicans who have acknowledged Biden as the president-elect. 

The Supreme Court on Friday night rejected a long-shot legal challenge led by Texas but backed by 17 other GOP state attorneys general and 126 House Republicans. 

The challenge sought to nullify Biden’s wins in Wisconsin, Michigan, Pennsylvania and Georgia by rehashing claims of fraud that have been dismissed by other courts and disputed by election experts. 

The Supreme Court’s order was unsigned, but Justices Clarence Thomas and Samuel Alito wrote a dissenting statement expressing their view that the court is obligated to hear interstate disputes.” They added that while they would have granted “the motion to file the bill of complaint,” they “would not grant other relief.” 

The Texas lawsuit had drawn pushback from other GOP senators, though they haven’t yet weighed in after the Supreme Court’s decision. 

Sen. John Cornyn (R-Texas) told reporters, “I do not understand the legal theory.”

Meanwhile, Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska) described herself as “really disappointed” in the House lawmakers supporting the effort and Sen. Lamar Alexander (R-Tenn.), who is retiring, told NBC News that “I’m having a hard time figuring out the basis for” the lawsuit.