US Supreme Court may not have final say in polls dispute

NEW YORK, Nov 05 (Reuters): While President Donald Trump has promised to ask the US Supreme Court to weigh in on a presidential race that is still too close to call, the nation's top judicial body may not be the final arbiter in this election, legal experts said.

Election law experts said it is 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 like Michigan and Pennsylvania.

With vote-counting still underway in many states in the early hours of Wednesday morning, Trump made an appearance at the White House and declared victory against Democratic challenger Joe Biden.

"This is a major fraud on our nation. We want the law to be used in a proper manner. So we'll be going to the US Supreme Court. We want all voting to stop," he said.

The Republican president did not provide any evidence to back up his claim of fraud or detail what litigation he would pursue at the Supreme Court.

As of Wednesday afternoon, the election still hung in the balance. A handful of closely contested states could decide the outcome in the coming hours or days, as a large number of mail-in ballots cast amid the coronavirus pandemic appears to have drawn out the process.

Meanwhile, Joe Biden vowed Wednesday that the US would rejoin the Paris climate accord on his first day in the White House, hours after the withdrawal ordered by Donald Trump took effect.

"Today, the Trump Administration officially left the Paris Climate Agreement. And in exactly 77 days, a Biden Administration will rejoin it," Biden tweeted as returns from Tuesday's election showed him in a strong position to defeat Trump.