Many Republican election lawsuits are dismissed for “lack of standing.” Here's why that matters.

Many of the election lawsuit challenges brought by Trump and his allies have been dismissed under a somewhat obscure to the public, but fundamental in the law, doctrine known as “standing.”  I would need a lot of space to fully describe the standing doctrine, but at core what it is requires is that a plaintiff show that he, she or it suffered an actual injury caused by the other party that can actually be addressed by the court. That’s a little dry. More plain spoken, under the Constitution, the courts are not available to redress general grievances, air political disputes or respond to someone’s personal belief that “things should have gone another way.”  In other words, you don't get to just walk into court and complain about something.

With their standing problem, I’ve noticed Republicans coalescing around an argument that courts have “dodged” the 2020 election issues or “refused to address their arguments on the merits.”

That’s nonsense.  And Democrats should embrace the “standing” dismissals because what the courts, vitally, are saying is that you Republican plaintiffs don’t matter.  You are irrelevant; you don’t have a right to be heard and no one should listen to you.  Specifically, the fact that you are complaining White men or women means nothing, and certainly doesn’t mean that we all have to take the time, distraction and cost of refuting your nonsensical claims.  No — your lawsuit is dismissed from the start without any further discussion.
Collectively, we must not indulge the Republicans’ narrative that they lost on technicalities.  No, they lost because they don’t matter.  And then rub their noses in that.  
Dear Republicans: It is not just that you are wrong — it is that there is no reason to listen to you in the first place.  You don't wield power, authority or respect.  You don't command attention.  Your voice is not important.
To re-state the notion of legal standing in its easiest understood form:  Who the fuck are you?  Now get lost, Karen.  

  • January 5, 2021