Newsmax host melts down over Supreme Court rejecting Texas case trying to overturn the election

Greg Kelly says it is too soon to project a Biden win (Biden won weeks ago) and then correspondent Emerald Robinson says conservatives are attacking conservative Supreme Court justices

Written by Media Matters Staff

Published

From the December 11, 2020, edition of Newsmax's Greg Kelly Reports

GREG KELLY (HOST): It's not over. It's not over. Yes, there is breaking news, the Supreme Court has turned down -- you can put that -- yeah, go ahead, leave it up. It's not over, the Supreme Court did turn down the Texas case. You know by now the Attorney General of Texas was suing Pennsylvania, Georgia, Michigan, Wisconsin along with about 20 other states.

We have the order issued just a few minutes ago. I'll read it for you but I want to emphasize before I do, we have the situation in Pennsylvania that has not been settled, we have Georgia that has not been settled, we have Michigan that has not been settled, independent of this lawsuit from Texas. You can go ahead and put that down now, we'll go through the -- the order in the pending case. I'll read this verbatim: 

"Texas v. Pennsylvania, et al. The State of Texas’s motion for leave to file a bill of complaint is denied for lack of standing under Article III of the Constitution. Texas has not demonstrated a judicially cognizable interest in the manner in which another State conducts its elections. All other pending motions are dismissed as moot." We have a statement of Justice Alito with whom Justice Thomas joins. It reads as follows: 'In my view, we do not have discretion to deny filing of a bill of complaint in a case that fails -- or falls within our original jurisdiction.'"

Alright, in other words, this would seem to be a 7-2 decision against us but Alito goes on, "I would therefore grant the motion to file the bill of complaint but would not grant other relief, and I express no view on any other issue." Alright, so the Texas lawsuit is not going any further. However, once again, there is Pennsylvania. There is the matter in Georgia. There is the situation in Michigan. Many folks were saying that this was a longshot.

Let's bring in the experts and I want to bring in also my fellow Newsmax colleague. We've got Emerald Robinson standing by and we also have on the phone Matthew DePerno, a constitutional attorney representing voters in the election lawsuit in Antrim County, Michigan. I hope he's on the phone. Can you hear me, sir?

MATTHEW DEPERNO: I can hear you.

KELLY: Terrific. Oh, there you are. Your reaction to what we just learned from the Supreme Court. I don't know if you heard me read that. Look, they denied our -- they denied it. My understanding though, Pennsylvania is still active. Your state is still active. What is your reaction right now?

DEPERNO: Well, I'm hearing the news just as you're reading the news. I've had my head buried in my work today. But I think everyone agreed that it was a longshot and it makes the other actions right now including my case more relevant.

KELLY: More relevant. I love it. I'm glad you said that, Matthew DePerno. So this is not over. Certainly not in Michigan. Mainstream media, they've been writing this headline since before the election that it was over for Donald Trump and then they've written it every day since. You're telling me your situation is more relevant than ever and more crucial than ever before. So we can't call this election as much as they want to right now, correct?

DEPERNO: That's correct because my lawsuit is about discrepancies in Antrim County with the way the vote was cast on November 3rd and then later tallies. I filed a lawsuit. I was able to get an order from the court to allow my forensic team to examine the software used by Dominion. We got some results today and this afternoon I filed an emergency motion to allow us to release those results to the American public and to the Michigan legislature.

KELLY: Yes, because we know, I think you're -- Antrim County is that county that was 60-40 for Biden and then we realized, in reality, it was basically 60-40 for Trump. Do me a favor. Stay right there, Matthew. Emerald Robinson reporting from the outskirts of Washington, DC. Arlington, Virginia. Alright, let's face it, Emerald. We were -- you know, fingers crossed, we wanted more from this. I know it was a longshot but what I'm trying to emphasize and what I'm hearing from our friend Matthew there, a constitutional attorney knee-deep -- head-deep in all this stuff, it's still -- it's not over by any stretch.

EMERALD ROBINSON: Well, yes. I mean they've clearly decided not to hear this case. Not Justice Alito though and not Clarence Thomas who both would have heard the case. Now, what I'm hearing from a lot of conservatives is that they wonder if Justice Gorsuch, Justice Kavanaugh, and justice -- the new Justice Amy Coney actually understand the gravity of the situation. They have long known that they felt that -- or have long felt that Justice John Roberts is a secure bet for the liberals, right? They consider him a liberal judge at this point and they would not have ever have expected him to decide to hear this or side with the conservatives on this point.

KELLY: Emerald? 

ROBINSON: Also what I'm -- yeah? I -- 

KELLY: Let me ask you this. What's the reaction at the White House right now? You've got great sources there. You spend most of your -- I mean, were they confident in Texas? They -- did they realize it was a longshot? And are they enthusiastic about the upcoming fight? Are they weary? How do they feel right now? What's going on there?

ROBINSON: Well, this is -- I mean, this is just breaking so we haven't really gotten much initial reaction but I can tell you how they felt leading up to this. Some people felt like it was a longshot but they had seen some great support from states. Look, this was the most cohesive effort, the most unified effort that we have seen out of the GOP thus far, right? Because there have been some in the GOP who had just had not backed the president and this could be a potential disaster for the Republican Party and for the Republican establishment. But they had felt some hope. The president hosted a dozen of those attorneys generals who had sided with Texas in this lawsuit at the White House yesterday for a luncheon. You could see based on his Twitter activity how he felt. And then in talking to some of the people who are more loyal to him in the White House, they felt that this might have a hope. You have to -- look, the president put three Supreme Court justices on the bench during his first term. Yet none of those, Greg, none of those that he actually put on the bench, at the recommendation of the Federalist Society, were with the team or with Alito and Thomas in actually deciding to hear the case. They chose not to. They sided with the liberal judges.