Judge dismisses Trump's lawsuit to block Alaska Senate race if Democrats win

A federal judge has dismissed a lawsuit by the Trump administration seeking to block the certification of Alaska's Senate election results if Republican incumbent Dan Sullivan loses. U.S. District Judge Sharon L. Gleason issued a 20-page order on Sunday stating that the Department of Justice lacked proper legal standing to bring the suit. Punch reported that the judge described the administration's attempt to hold up the Democratic candidate's victory as unworkable.

The Justice Department argued that the presence of a teacher named Daniel J. Sullivan on the ballot, who shares the same name and party affiliation as the incumbent, could confuse voters and benefit Democratic nominee Mary Peltola. According to CBS News, Judge Gleason found that the United States failed to establish the redressability prerequisite for Article III standing.

She further noted that the administration provided no workable plan to segregate ballots cast for the teacher to conduct an investigation while preserving voter secrecy.

CNBC reports that Mary Peltola is facing two candidates named Dan Sullivan in the race, one of whom is the Republican incumbent.

Brief written by urgent.news from Punch, Channel News Asia, CNBC, CBS News, Al Jazeera — 5 reports on this story. Machine-written — may contain errors; check the original before relying on it.