Mandamus

[ashling]

I think that Biden should sue Trump and the GSA lady for a writ of mandamus requiring them to do their jobs. Trump should direct the GSA lady to issue an Ascertainment that Biden won the election and that the Trump administration should comply with the office of the President Elect to facilitate the transfer of powers.
He has already admited in one of his tweetstorms that "He won ...". If left to his own devices, Trmp will surely burn down the house before leaving it.

[onenote]

1. Not going to happen

Mandamus is an extraordinary writ that only will be issued when someone is failing to carry out a legal obligation. Trump had no legal obligation to tell Murphy to issue the ascertainment under the Transitions Act. In fact, the point of assigning the task to the GSA administrator was to create separation between the outgoing administration and the decision. And the law effectively gives the GSA unfettered discretion in making the ascertainment. The courts won’t intervene,at least not until the states start certifying the results.

[TomSlick]

2. Agreed.

The "ascertainment" decision is not merely administrative. A judge is unlikely to substitute their opinion for that of GSA Administrator Murphy. Such a decision would be largely meaningless in any event. A judge is not going to order Trump administration officials to cooperate with the Biden transition team.

[treestar]

3. Can anything be done?

She has the right to just not make the determination? Meaning the transition doesn’t happen unless the person in that office allows it.