December 12, 2020

Donald Trump Just Lost Another One of His Election Challenges in Federal Court

Meanwhile, a state supreme court justice said a different suit “smacks of racism.”

Patrick Semansky/AP

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The election has been over for more than a month, but Donald Trump still can’t stop losing election challenges in court. On Saturday, yet another judge rejected his campaign’s effort to subvert the will of the people and overturn the president’s election loss.

In Wisconsin, US District Judge Brett Ludwig, a Trump appointee, called the case “extraordinary” and offered a blistering ruling. “This court allowed the plaintiff the chance to make his case and he has lost on the merits,” Judge Ludwig said. “In his reply brief, plaintiff ‘asks that the Rule of Law be followed.’ It has been.”

As the Trump team’s lawsuit was failing in federal court, the Wisconsin Supreme Court was hearing oral arguments in another of his lawsuits that seeks to toss out the 221,000 votes in Milwaukee and Dane counties, two heavily-Democratic areas that Trump lost. The president’s prospects in that suit are already looking grim. “This lawsuit, Mr. Troupis, smacks of racism,” Justice Jill Karofsky said to Trump’s lawyer Jim Troupis. “I do not know how you can come before this court and possibly ask for a remedy that is unheard of in US history.”

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WHO DOESN’T LOVE A POSITIVE STORY—OR TWO?

“Great journalism really does make a difference in this world: it can even save kids.”

That’s what a civil rights lawyer wrote to Julia Lurie, the day after her major investigation into a psychiatric hospital chain that uses foster children as “cash cows” published, letting her know he was using her findings that same day in a hearing to keep a child out of one of the facilities we investigated.

That’s awesome. As is the fact that Julia, who spent a full year reporting this challenging story, promptly heard from a Senate committee that will use her work in their own investigation of Universal Health Services. There’s no doubt her revelations will continue to have a big impact in the months and years to come.

Like another story about Mother Jones’ real-world impact.

This one, a multiyear investigation, published in 2021, exposed conditions in sugar work camps in the Dominican Republic owned by Central Romana—the conglomerate behind brands like C&H and Domino, whose product ends up in our Hershey bars and other sweets. A year ago, the Biden administration banned sugar imports from Central Romana. And just recently, we learned of a previously undisclosed investigation from the Department of Homeland Security, looking into working conditions at Central Romana. How big of a deal is this?

“This could be the first time a corporation would be held criminally liable for forced labor in their own supply chains,” according to a retired special agent we talked to.

Wow.

And it is only because Mother Jones is funded primarily by donations from readers that we can mount ambitious, yearlong—or more—investigations like these two stories that are making waves.

About that: It’s unfathomably hard in the news business right now, and we came up about $28,000 short during our recent fall fundraising campaign. We simply have to make that up soon to avoid falling further behind than can be made up for, or needing to somehow trim $1 million from our budget, like happened last year.

If you can, please support the reporting you get from Mother Jones—that exists to make a difference, not a profit—with a donation of any amount today. We need more donations than normal to come in from this specific blurb to help close our funding gap before it gets any bigger.

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