Twas the night before Thanksgiving and all through the press the media was calling it curtains on the challenges to the fraudulent election, when across the internet there was such a clatter -- attorney Sidney Powell unleashed the power of the Kraken.

Here are the links to the  filed complaints by Sidney Powell in federal district courts respecting the massive, well-documented election fraud in Georgia:

and Michigan:

While the complaints involve just these two cases, countless others are proceeding by different counsel in the six states being challenged for election fraud, and footnotes in these two alert the courts that the patterns and practices of fraud in all of these states are with minor variations identical.

The same pattern of election fraud and voter fraud writ large occurred in all the swing states with only minor variations in Michigan, Pennsylvania, Arizona and Wisconsin. See Exh. 101, William M. Briggs, Ph.D. “An Analysis Regarding Absentee Ballots Across Several States” (Nov. 23, 2020) (“Dr. Briggs Report”)."

The thrust of both cases is that there was massive election fraud, that the fraud violated state election codes, the Constitution’s Election and Electors and Equal Protection Clauses. The complaints attach affidavits of dozens of eye witnesses, and of many experts documenting statistical anomalies and mathematical improbabilities.

They document the many ways the malefactors schemed to defraud by manufacturing a false vote count to Biden’s benefit. They charge the “ballot stuffing” schemes “amplified and rendered virtually invisible by computer software created and run by domestic and foreign actors for that very purpose.”

In the Michigan case the plaintiffs seek the following emergency, declaratory and permanent relief as follows:

1. An order directing Secretary Benson, Governor Whitmer, the Board of State Canvassers and Wayne County to de-certify the election results; 
2. An order enjoining Secretary Benson and Governor Whitmer from transmitting the currently certified election results to the Electoral College; 
3. An order requiring Governor Whitmer to transmit certified election results that state that President Donald Trump is the winner of the election; 
4. An immediate order to impound all the voting machines and software in Michigan for expert inspection by the Plaintiffs; 
5. An order that no votes received or tabulated by machines that were not certified as required by federal and state law be counted; 
6. A declaratory judgment declaring that Michigan’s failed system of signature verification violates the Electors and Elections Clause by working a de facto abolition of the signature verification requirement; 
7. A declaratory judgment declaring that current certified election results violates the Due Process Clause, U.S. CONST. Amend. XIV; 
8. A declaratory judgment declaring that mail-in and absentee ballot fraud must be remedied with a Full Manual Recount or statistically valid sampling that properly verifies the signatures on absentee ballot envelopes and that invalidates the certified results if the recount or sampling analysis shows a sufficient number of ineligible absentee ballots were counted;
9. An emergency declaratory judgment that voting machines be Seized and Impounded immediately for a forensic audit—by Plaintiffs’ expects; 
10. A declaratory judgment declaring absentee ballot fraud occurred in violation of Constitutional rights, Election laws and under state law; 
11. A permanent injunction prohibiting the Governor and Secretary of State from transmitting the currently certified results to the Electoral College based on the overwhelming evidence of election tampering; 
12. Immediate production of 48 hours of security camera recording of all rooms used in the voting process at the TCF Center for November 3 and November 4. 

In Georgia they seek much the same:

1. An order directing Governor Kemp, Secretary Raffensperger and the Georgia State Board of Elections to de-certify the election results;
2. An order enjoining Governor Kemp from transmitting the currently certified election results to the Electoral College; 
3. An order requiring Governor Kemp to transmit certified election results that state that President Donald Trump is the winner of the election; 
4.  An immediate order to impound all the voting machines and software in Georgia for expert inspection by the Plaintiffs; 
5. An order that no votes received or tabulated by machines that were not certified as required by federal and state law be counted; 
6. A declaratory judgment declaring that Georgia Secretary of State Rule 183-1-14-0.9-.15 violates the Electors and Elections Clause, U.S. CONST. art. I, § 4; 
7. A declaratory judgment declaring that Georgia’s failed system of signature verification violates the Electors and Elections Clause by working a de facto abolition of the signature verification requirement; 
8. A declaratory judgment declaring that current certified election results violates the Due Process Clause, U.S. CONST. Amend. XIV; 
9. A declaratory judgment declaring that mail-in and absentee ballot fraud must be remedied with a Full Manual Recount or statistically valid sampling that properly verifies the signatures on absentee ballot envelopes and that invalidates the certified results if the recount or sampling analysis shows a sufficient number of ineligible absentee ballots were counted; 
10. An emergency declaratory judgment that voting machines be Seized and Impounded immediately for a forensic audit—by plaintiffs’ expects;
11. A declaratory judgment declaring absentee ballot fraud occurred in violation of Constitutional rights, Election laws and under state law;
12. A permanent injunction prohibiting the Governor and Secretary of State from transmitting the currently certified results to the Electoral College based on the overwhelming evidence of election tampering;
    Immediate production of 36 hours of security camera recording of all rooms used in the voting process at State Farm Arena in Fulton County, GA from 12:00am to 3:00am until 6:00pm on November 3. 

The documentation seems substantial and credible to me, although such far reaching election relief is as far as I know in present day unprecedented, certainly given the Supreme Court’s recent tendency to excuse government overreach in a creative reading of the clear words of a Statute or the Constitution.

I was particularly concerned that the courts would buy into the defense that the election rules had to be scrapped because of Covid.  "Necessity" as an excuse for ignoring the law is a well-known ploy. As Oliver Cromwell famously said: 

Necessity hath no law. Feigned necessities, imagined necessities... are the greatest cozenage that men can put upon the Providence of God, and make pretenses to break known rules by.

So I was heartened that almost at the same late (midnight) time and date, the Court, held unconstitutional New York Governor Cuomo’s restrictions of religious worship. 

Cuomo's dodge of withdrawing the restrictions and then arguing the court did not need to rule did not work. The embittered among us recall that NY State successfully tried a similar ploy last spring with a gun related restriction.

Here are the relevant portions of the Court’s actions in the two religious cases, one brought by the Catholic diocese and another by synagogues:

 In an unsigned opinion in the Catholic diocese case that also applies to the synagogues’ case, the five-member majority blocked the state from enforcing the attendance limits while the challengers continue to litigate the issue at the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 2nd Circuit and, if necessary, return to the Supreme Court for a final decision on the merits. The court explained that Cuomo’s order does not appear to be neutral, but instead “single[s] out houses of worship for especially harsh treatment.” For example, although a synagogue or a church in a red zone is limited to 10 people at a service, there are no limits on how many people a nearby “essential” business – which can include acupuncture or a camp ground – can admit.

Because the Cuomo order is not neutral, the court continued, it is subject to the most stringent constitutional test, known as strict scrutiny. It fails that test, the court concluded, because the order is too broad. There is no evidence that these synagogues and churches have contributed to outbreaks, and other, less restrictive rules could have been employed instead – such as basing the maximum attendance on the size of the facility. And if the restrictions are enforced, the court added, they will result in permanent harm to people who cannot attend and for whom a livestream of services is not an adequate substitute.

Gorsuch filed a short, separate opinion in which he emphasized that “[e]ven if the Constitution has taken a holiday during this pandemic, it cannot become a sabbatical.”

I was concerned that the state officials who ignored the laws of their states on elections and the clear words of the Constitution would be allowed to pull off the scams by citing Covid as the reason for the shifts from the time, manner and means of elections set by state legislatures . The New York religious worship cases indicate to me that path would now seem less availing.

Of course as a practical matter it is ridiculous anyway. If the emergency was so substantial as to alter the means of elections, the legislature could have provided a means. Certainly if voters are permitted by these same officials to shop in big-box stores or engage in riots, BLM parades, and Biden street celebrations, a means could have been provided to allow safe in person balloting and election observers.