The Democratic candidate Joe Biden is on the verge of registering victory in the US Presidential Election and Donald Trump has already stated that he has won and is going to the court. The US seems to be going forward to a political crisis that can last for many weeks if there are many challenges and it makes the way to the Supreme Court where the conservatives have a majority of 6-3.
The observers have floated a situation that can witness both the candidates demanding to be sworn as the president on inauguration day in January. The democrats have a fear that Trump is attempting to steal the election by taking legal action for halting the ballot counting in many states in a bid to stop Biden from getting 270 votes required to become president.
Justin Webb, who is a BBC Radio 4 Today presenter questioned what is going to happen if the courts sided with the Trump campaign and put a halt to the original count, as per reports. Trump has decided to take the fight to the Supreme Court where Justice Amy Coney Barrett who was recently appointed may cast a deciding vote. The Democrats consider her an 'illegitimate' justice and will likely refuse to accept a ruling in Trump's favor. Biden can refuse to concede with the backing of his party and the supporters.
US Political Crisis
"What if the courts side with Donald Trump and the matter goes to the very top: to the Supreme Court whose decisions are final? He thinks that this court is his route to victory. Many Democrats would see a court so closely allied to Donald Trump as an illegitimate body. They may refuse to accept its ruling," Webb wrote in Daily Mail.
The current situation echoes of the 2000 Presidential Election, which was won by a close margin by the Republican candidate George W Bush when the Supreme Court stopped a recount in Florida and also handed him the victory over Democrat Al Gore. The Democrat lost to Bush after the ruling of the top court.
Weeks ahead of the 2020 election, Trump had predicted that the election can end up in a legal fight and he can refuse to concede or agree to a transition of power if he is on the losing side, which raised the fears of a constitutional crisis. The experts have raised the chances that he can refuse to leave the White House and get escorted by the authorities.
As per another scenario, Trump can snatch the victory from Biden if the Republican-led state legislatures appoint Trump-backing electors to the Electoral College even after the state was won by the Democrats. In that case, the states won by the Democratic governors and Republican legislatures can end up appointing two different teams of electors. The states will cast double their allotted votes.
Mike Pence will count the electoral votes in December. In such a situation, he can choose to throw out the doubled-up votes, which means that both the candidates will not be able to reach 270. The House of Representatives having one vote per state will then decide the winner. Webb stated that Trump can try to draw out his fight if he loses and gets a guarantee that he can not go to jail or at least the deep financial and legal problems.
