U.S. Supreme Court won't rule on Sidney Powell's Michigan lawsuit

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Feb. 22—The U.S. Supreme Court will not weigh in on a case brought by a group of Michigan Republicans seeking to overturn President Joe Biden's win in Michigan.

The nine justices on Monday denied the plaintiffs a writ of certiorari, meaning the case filed by Sidney Powell and other attorneys will not proceed.

The King v. Whitmer lawsuit was filed in federal court in late November on behalf of three Republican Electoral College electors and three local GOP officials who cited unproven claims of fraudulent election software and analyses to call into question Biden's 154,000-vote win in Michigan.

The Republicans who filed the suit included Timothy King, Marian Sheridan and John Haggard, who would have been presidential electors had former President Donald Trump won the election. Sheridan was elected earlier this month to serve as grassroots chair for the Michigan Republican Party.

Other GOP plaintiffs included district and county chairmen James Ritchard, James David Hooper and Daren Rubingh.

The suit, filed after all of Michigan's results had been certified at county and state levels, sought an order requiring Gov. Gretchen Whitmer to transmit results showing Trump was the winner, and the impounding of all "voting machines and software in Michigan for expert inspection."

The suit focused in part on a clerk's error in Republican-leaning Antrim County that led to results being posted that that initially showed Biden ahead of Trump. Once it became aware of the error the morning after the election, the county pulled the results from its website and later reposted the corrected results showing Trump's victory in Antrim County.

Federal District Judge Linda Parker rejected emergency relief sought in the suit in December, saying the effort sought to "ignore the will of millions of voters." The plaintiffs filed in the U.S. Supreme Court shortly after Parker's decision.

Dominion Voting Systems, cited heavily in the King v. Whitmer suit, filed a $1.3 billion defamation suit against Powell in January.

Whitmer, Attorney General Dana Nessel and Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson filed complaints earlier this month with the Attorney Grievance Commission in Michigan and the State Bar of Texas against four attorneys involved in the King v. Whitmer lawsuit. The attorneys include Texas-based Powell and Michigan attorneys Greg Rohl, Stefanie Juntilla and Scott Hagerstrom.

eleblanc@detroitnews.com