US supreme court rejects Texas lawsuit seeking to overturn election results – as it happened
Supreme Court #SupremeCourt
7.52pm EST 19:52
Summary
From me and Adam Gabbatt:
7.28pm EST 19:28
Following the supreme court decision, the Texas Republican party chairman released a statement suggesting secession, saying, “law-abiding states should bond together and form a Union of states that will abide by the constitution”.
Updated at 8.11pm EST
7.23pm EST 19:23
America’s longest-serving marijuana prisoner freed after 31 years 
A man believed to be the longest-serving inmate for non-violent, marijuana charges has been released from a Florida prison, and is set to spend the holidays with family for the first time in more than 31 years.
Richard DeLisi walked out of a correctional facility in Palm Beach county this week “grateful to everyone who [had] been there” and expressing appreciation for supporters and criminal justice reform advocates who say the now 71-year-old’s release was long overdue.
“It was so unjust what they did to me,” DeLisi told Florida’s Ledger newspaper. “I just hope that I can help other people that are in the same situation.”
Along with his older brother, DeLisi was sentenced to a 90-year prison term in 1989 after being convicted trafficking more than 100lb of marijuana from Colombia – as well as conspiracy and racketeering charges.
Both brothers received three, consecutive 30-year convictions, which well exceeded judicial guidelines for recommended sentences at the time. Criminal justice experts pointed to the sentence as part of the lingering “war on drugs” that saw incarceration rates rise sharply for low-level drug offenders in the 1980s and 90s.
While his brother eventually appealed and was released from prison in 2013, DeLisi’s appeal was rejected. He left prison this week ahead of a scheduled June 2022 release.
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Updated at 7.24pm EST
7.01pm EST 19:01
Here’s more background on the Texas lawsuit that the supreme court had rejected, from Reuters:
Texas was suing the states of Georgia, Michigan, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin in an unlikely bid, calling changes that the states had made to election procedures amid the coronavirus pandemic unlawful.
The suit was backed by Trump and more than 100 Republicans in Congress, including the House minority leader, Kevin McCarthy.
The court’s order marked its second this week rebuffing Republican requests that it get involved in the 2020 election outcome. The justices turned away an appeal from Pennsylvania Republicans on Tuesday.
On Thursday, the states named in the lawsuit urged the supreme court to reject it, calling the case a publicity stunt that had no factual or legal grounds and made “bogus” claims.
“What Texas is doing in this proceeding is to ask this court to reconsider a mass of baseless claims about problems with the election that have already been considered, and rejected, by this court and other courts,” Josh Shapiro, Pennsylvania’s Democratic attorney general, wrote in a filing to the nine justices.
The electoral college meets on Monday to formally elect Biden as the next president.
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Updated at 8.10pm EST
6.47pm EST 18:47
Trump signed a resolution to avert government shutdown at midnight
Donald Trump signed a temporary funding measure to avert a government shutdown. The stopgap measure, known as a continuing resolution, will expire in a week.
The short-term measure buys lawmakers time to reach an agreement on a delayed Covid relief bill. Lawmakers are at odds over whether or not to send out another round of direct payments to Americans, as coronavirus cases rise and the economic crisis deepens.
Updated at 6.51pm EST
6.39pm EST 18:39
US supreme court rejects lawsuit challenging Biden wins in swing states
The supreme court rejected a lawsuit from the Texas attorney general, challenging election results in other states, shutting down yet another long-shot attempt by Republicans to change the election results.
The suit was backed by over 100 Republicans in Congress, including the minority leader, Kevin McCarthy.
Updated at 6.47pm EST
6.08pm EST 18:08
Justin Trudeau announced that Canada will be extending travel restrictions at the US-Canada border … until the day after Joe Biden is inaugurated.
“Non-essential travel between our two countries remains restricted until at least January 21st, 2021,” the Canadian prime minister said. President-elect Biden’s inauguration will be on 20 January.
Updated at 6.12pm EST
5.45pm EST 17:45
Administration to purchase additional 100m Moderna vaccine doses
The Department of Health and Human Services and the Department of Defense said they’ll purchase an additional 100m doses of the Moderna vaccine – which means the US will be able to distribute 200m doses of the vaccine, once the FDA approves it.
An FDA panel is scheduled to discuss and vote on whether to authorize the vaccine next week. The US has the option of getting up to 300m more doses of the vaccine.
The Trump administration came under criticism after the New York Times reported that it passed on buying additional doses of the Pfizer vaccine.
Updated at 5.53pm EST
4.58pm EST 16:58
Today so far
My colleague Maanvi Singh will continue to bring you updates through the evening.
4.03pm EST 16:03
Devin Nunes, the Republican congressman from California, has tested positive for coronavirus.
Nunes, an ardent supporter of Donald Trump, reportedly broke the news during an interview with the KMJNOW radio station.
At least 45 members of Congress have now tested positive for coronavirus, according to CNN’s tracker. The majority of those are Republican.
Devin Nunes. Photograph: Andrew Caballero-Reynolds/AFP via Getty Images
3.45pm EST 15:45
South Carolina reported its highest ever daily number of new Covid-19 cases on Friday.
“One week ago, today, South Carolina announced its highest number of new cases of COVID-19. Today, we eclipse that number by more than 700,” the South Carolina Department of health and environmental control said in a release.
The state reported 3,217 confirmed and probable Covid-19 cases on Friday, and 47 deaths. South Carolina has had more than 245,200 cases, and 4,673 deaths.
“South Carolina, like many other states, is currently experiencing a worsening of this pandemic,” said Dr Brannon Traxler, interim public heath director of the DHEC.
“While the arriving vaccine is the light at the end of the tunnel, it will be months before there is enough vaccine available for everyone. It is incumbent upon all of us to continue to take actions aimed at saving lives.”
3.07pm EST 15:07
White House threatened FDA head over vaccine approval – report
The White House chief of staff threatened Stephen Hahn, the commissioner of the Food and Drug Administration, over the approval of a coronavirus vaccine, the Washington Post reported.
According to the Post, Mark Meadows told Hahn to submit his resignation if the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine was not approved by the end of the day. The newspaper cited people familiar with the situation who spoke on the condition of anonymity.
“The warning led the FDA to accelerate its timetable for clearing America’s first vaccine from Saturday morning to later Friday,” the Washington Post reported.
Earlier it had emerged that the FDA, which had previously been expected to formally approve the vaccine on Saturday, would move the authorization forward to Friday night. The Washington Post said that was a result of Meadows’ threat.
Mark Meadows, right, with assistant to the president Dan Scavino. Photograph: Win McNamee/Getty Images
In a statement to the Post Hahn tamped down the report, however.
“This is an untrue representation of the phone call with the Chief of Staff,” Hahn said in a statement to the Post.
“The FDA was encouraged to continue working expeditiously on Pfizer-BioNTech’s EUA request. FDA is committed to issuing this authorization quickly, as we noted in our statement this morning.”
Updated at 4.27pm EST
2.53pm EST 14:53
The Senate has passed a temporary government-wide funding bill, averting a government shutdown at midnight and buying time for negotiations over Covid-19 relief.
The stop-gap measure, which is expected to be signed by Donald Trump at some point today, will keep the government running until December 18.
It buys time for Congress to continue negotiations over a coronavirus relief package. Those talks remain stalled, but Associated Press reported that there is “universal agreement that Congress won’t adjourn for the year without passing a long-delayed round of pandemic relief”.
An emerging $900 billion aid package from a bipartisan group of lawmakers hit a rough patch after Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell swung against the effort, but negotiations are ongoing and pressure remains intense.
2.39pm EST 14:39
Fauci to ‘get vaccinated publicly’
Dr Anthony Fauci said he will receive a Covid-19 vaccine publicly in an attempt to build confidence in the vaccinations.
Fauci said he would “get vaccinated publicly, in the public space, so that people can see me getting vaccinated,” in an interview with the New York Times.
The director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases said he would do so as soon as “the vaccine becomes available to me”.
Anthony Fauci, right. Photograph: Jonathan Ernst/Reuters
It’s not clear yet how Fauci would receive the vaccine in a manner that the public could witness it. Last week former US presidents Barack Obama, Bill Clinton and George W Bush pledged to get vaccinated on TV to show its safety.
Many Americans say they will not agree to be vaccinated against Covid-19. A poll by Gallup, released in mid-November, showed that 42% of the country would not take the vaccine even if it was “available right now at no cost”.
1.50pm EST 13:50
The US senate has thrown its weight behind the annual National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA), a $740 billion bill setting policy for the Department of Defense. The bill passed with a margin large enough to overcome opposition from Donald Trump, who has threatened to veto partly because of a provision to remove the names of confederate generals from military bases.
Here’s the Associated Press with more:
The Republican-controlled Senate backed the bill by 84 to 13, more than the two-thirds majority needed in the 100-member chamber to override a veto.
Backers hope strong bipartisan support will prompt Trump to reconsider his threat to veto the annual bill, which sets policy for the US military and has become law for 59 straight years.
The White House said on earlier on Friday that Trump’s position had not changed. The Republican president will have 10 days – minus Sundays – to issue a veto, sign it or allow it to become law without his signature.