Alaska fights back against Trump-ordered elections lawsuit, seeks its dismissal

This article was updated at noon Tuesday with an order from Judge Sharon Gleason.

Attorneys representing the state of Alaska have asked a federal judge to dismiss a lawsuit by the U.S. Department of Justice that is seeking to halt the certification of the state’s ongoing U.S. Senate election.

The lawsuit, ordered by President Donald Trump and filed last week, asks the U.S. District Court for the District of Alaska to prevent the Alaska Division of Elections from declaring a winner in the election unless the winner is the incumbent, Republican Sen. Dan S. Sullivan, an ally of the President. 

Shortly before noon Tuesday, Judge Sharon Gleason, an Obama appointee who is presiding over the case, issued an order stating that the federal government has until 3 p.m. Thursday to submit written arguments against the dismissal request. The state has until noon Friday to offer a rebuttal.

The state has asked Gleason to rule on the dismissal request no later than Monday, the day before Election Day.

“This will ensure that Alaskans heading to the ballot box (as well as those who have already voted) have confidence that their votes will count and the U.S. Senate election result will be timely certified free from unlawful interference by the United States,” state attorneys wrote.

Opposition grows to Trump lawsuit seeking to aid Sen. Dan Sullivan’s re-election bid

Attorneys representing the federal government have put forward a legally dubious argument stating that Alaska voters might be confused by the fact that one of Sen. Sullivan’s opponents is a man with the same first and last name — unaffiliated candidate Dan J. Sullivan of Petersburg.

Late Monday, state assistant attorneys general Margaret Paton Walsh and Laura Fox said the complaint “has no legal basis” and, citing a September ruling by the U.S. Supreme Court, said “the United States lacks authority to intervene in state elections at all, much less in support of a favored candidate. This Court should follow the well established principle that ‘lower federal courts should not “alter the election rules” of a state “on the eve of an election,”’ and swiftly dismiss the complaint.”

If the federal government were to prevail in the lawsuit, the state would be unable to declare anyone but Sen. Sullivan the winner of the ongoing U.S. Senate election until a subsequent investigation is complete. 

That has implications not just for Alaska but for the United States as a whole. 

Cook Political Report, a leading expert on elections, says that in 13 of this year’s open Senate seats, Democrats are favored. If that holds true on and after Election Day, it would give them 47 seats. It rates seven other races as “toss-ups.” If Democrats win four of those races, they’ll control the chamber.

One of the seven toss-ups is Alaska’s race. 

Sabato’s Crystal Ball, a ranking of close races run by the nonpartisan Center for Politics, thinks Peltola is favored to win; its forecast gives Democrats 49 seats before toss-ups are considered.

Before the state’s filing late Monday, the DOJ lawsuit had already been challenged by two nonpartisan groups, as well as the campaign of Democratic Senate candidate Mary Peltola and a national Democratic group.

The nonpartisan groups and the Democratic groups also asked Gleason to dismiss the federal government’s case.