Peltola wants DOJ suit dismissed quickly

The campaign of Alaska Senate Democratic nominee Mary Peltola asked a federal judge to fast-track a Trump administration lawsuit that could block certification of that election. Peltola’s campaign wants the judge to dismiss the suit before Election Day.

A lawyer for Peltola’s campaign and the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee in a court filing late Sunday said they are “seriously concerned” President Donald Trump and Attorney General Todd Blanche will use the lawsuit to “lay the groundwork for unlawful efforts to challenge a potential Peltola victory” if the complaint remains pending as of Nov. 3, the day of the election.

The advocacy groups Common Cause and the League of Women Voters, which previously sought to intervene in the DOJ’s lawsuit, on Monday joined Peltola’s motion seeking a quick briefing and dismissal by Alaska District Court Judge Sharon Gleason.

The Department of Justice filed the suit Thursday. Trump later that day said he ordered it.

The DOJ’s suit asks a judge to bar Alaska from certifying the Senate race results if incumbent Republican Sen. Dan Sullivan loses by a margin that could be attributable to voters mistakenly casting their ballots for another candidate, Daniel J. Sullivan.

The DOJ, in that case, would want an investigation to determine whether enough voters were confused by the men’s names to swing the vote to another candidate, presumably the former Rep. Peltola. The DOJ claims that Daniel J. Sullivan’s “sole purpose” of running “is to benefit the Peltola campaign by reducing the number of votes for Senator Sullivan.”

The winner of the race could determine which party holds a majority in the Senate starting in January.

Peltola’s campaign and the DSCC, in their court filing, asked that a judge order the DOJ to respond to their motion to intervene in the case, and their motion to dismiss the lawsuit by 5 p.m. Alaska Time on Tuesday, and to order a reply to that response by Wednesday.

“And dismiss the case this week,” the motion says.

“DOJ filed this lawsuit in the midst of the ongoing general election, less than two weeks before election day, raising issues governed exclusively by state law that were definitively resolved by the Alaska Supreme Court months ago,” the filing says.

“DOJ seeks an unprecedented order precluding certification of the U.S. Senate election if the candidate the President favors loses narrowly,” the filing said.

“As the proposed Motion to Dismiss reflects, DOJ’s claims are utterly without legal basis,” the filing said.

“The Court should not allow this lawsuit to hang like the Sword of Damocles over the ongoing election, lending false legitimacy to the President’s and the…