Reuters US Domestic News Summary

Following is a summary of current US domestic news briefs. U.S. Supreme Court may not have final say in presidential election, despite Trump threat

While President Donald Trump wants the U.S. Supreme Court to weigh in on a presidential race that is still too close to call, it may not be the final arbiter in this election, legal experts said. They said it was doubtful that courts would entertain a bid by Trump to stop the counting of ballots that were received before or on Election Day, or that any dispute a court might handle would change the trajectory of the race in closely fought states such as Michigan and Pennsylvania. Trump campaign suing to halt counting in Pennsylvania

The campaign for President Donald Trump said on Wednesday it was suing to temporarily halt vote counting in Pennsylvania and also asked to intervene in a U.S. Supreme Court case over mail-in ballots in the state, which could determine the winner of the election. The campaign said on Wednesday it was suing to stop Democratic officials in the state from "hiding" the ballot counting process from Republican poll observers. Michigan still counting votes, angry poll watchers barred in Detroit, Trump sues

Michigan, a battleground state that will help determine who wins the U.S. presidential election, is still counting "tens of thousands" of ballots according to a top state official and emotions were running high in Detroit, where poll watchers were barred from the counting room on Wednesday afternoon. Republican President Donald Trump narrowly won Michigan in 2016 but late on Wednesday, CNN, Edison Research and Fox News declared Democratic challenger Joe Biden won the state. Trump has made clear he will fight to challenge the results there. Republicans on track to dash Democratic hopes of U.S. Senate majority

Republicans appeared poised to retain control of the U.S. Senate on Wednesday, after Senator Susan Collins defied political odds to win re-election in Maine and other Republican incumbents led Democrats in a handful of undecided races. Democrats, who had been favored to win the Senate majority heading into Tuesday's election, had a net gain of only one seat to show by Wednesday afternoon as their options for further increases dwindled, despite a huge Democratic money advantage going into the final weeks of the campaign. 'Sharpiegate' allegations fuel unproven claims of voter fraud in Arizona

Unsubstantiated claims alleging some votes cast for President Donald Trump were not counted in Maricopa County, Arizona - an important battleground in the 2020 U.S. election - because voters used Sharpie pens began spreading among right-wing social media accounts on Tuesday night as election results trickled in. Dubbed “Sharpiegate” by conservatives on social media, the allegations could be used to try to undermine election results in the historically Republican state of Arizona, which the Associated Press called for Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden with 51% of the vote. North Carolina election results won't change for a week: officials

North Carolina election officials said on Wednesday they did not expect vote totals reported by the state to change for more than a week, as the state remained undecided in both the U.S. presidential race and a Senate seat. North Carolina has 15 electoral votes. Conservative U.S. Supreme Court justices lean toward Catholic agency in LGBT dispute

Conservative U.S. Supreme Court justices on Wednesday appeared sympathetic to religious rights claims against Philadelphia brought by a Catholic Church-affiliated agency after the city refused to use the group in its foster care program because it would not accept same-sex couples as prospective foster parents. The almost two-hour argument via teleconference was the first major case to be heard by President Donald Trump's appointee Amy Coney Barrett, who was confirmed to the court last week and participated in cases argued on Monday and Tuesday. After tumultuous campaign, an uneasy American electorate heads to the polls

Americans head to the polls on Tuesday to conclude a bitter and divisive U.S. election campaign, as Republican President Donald Trump seeks to overcome Democratic rival Joe Biden's lead in opinion polls to win four more years in the White House. The voting caps a campaign dominated by the coronavirus pandemic that has killed more than 231,000 people in the United States and put millions out of work, and shaken by nationwide protests over racial injustice against Black Americans. Post-election 'twilight zone' puts Americans on edge

Weary from one of the most bruising U.S. presidential races in modern times, Republican and Democratic voters alike were in a state of high anxiety on Wednesday with the election outcome still unsettled a day after polls closed. President Donald Trump's false declaration of victory in the early hours of Wednesday, as ballot counting continued in several pivotal states, roiled supporters of Democratic challenger Joe Biden. Twitter suspends fake Associated Press accounts that made bogus U.S. election calls

Twitter Inc said on Wednesday it permanently suspended several accounts falsely claiming to be tied to the Associated Press after they posted unverified U.S. election results. According to screenshots circulating online and a review of the accounts in question, four accounts were disabled after making calls on the results of an undeclared swing state in the presidential election that the news agency had not made.