December 9 is the day after the safe harbor date of December 8, which means that Congress cannot challenge any electors named by this date.
The Economist’s Supreme Court correspondent Steve Mazie laid out what the date selection means in a tweet thread on Twitter.
“Trump election challenge now at SCOTUS. Pennsylvania state representative challenges election results in his state, saying it was illegal for the state legislature to expand mail-in voting late last year,” he said.
“The application goes to Justice Alito, who is assigned to handle such requests from this region of the country. He told Pennsylvania officials tonight to respond to the lawsuit in writing by December 9.
“Six days from now is an eternity on the electoral clock: Safe-harbor deadline (by which states must confirm results to make them “conclusive”) is Dec. 8, electoral college votes on Dec. 14. By the time Kelly files final brief on Dec. 10 or so, the challenge will be moot,” he said.
NEW: Trump election challenge now at SCOTUS. Pennsylvania state representative challenges election results in his state, saying it was illegal for state legislature to expand mail-in voting late last year. pic.twitter.com/hVra2LJLvP
— Steven Mazie (@stevenmazie) December 4, 2020
Justice Alito had to weigh in on the election before, namely last month when he ruled that ballots received after November 3 must be segregated.
