Chaos: Michigan court rules recount must end, as Federal court rules it must continue

| 6:31 pm EST December 6, 2016
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So now what? On the same evening in which Michigan’s Republican Attorney General was publicly celebrating the seeming end of the statewide recount thanks to a ruling from a Michigan state appeals court, those in favor of the recount were celebrating a ruling from a federal appeals court which ruled that the recount must continue. The initially conflicting headlines have now been resolved, as the two courts issued opposite rulings in near simultaneous fashion and created a wave of confusion.

But it’s still not clear what happens next. For instance this Reuters article states “The conflicting rulings had both sides claiming victory but left unclear on Tuesday evening where Stein’s bid to recount the vote in Michigan stood.” Meanwhile this Politico article says that Michigan Attorney General Bill Schuette, who has led the charge against the recount, is planning to “take the recount case back to U.S. District Court Judge Mark Goldsmith, who on Monday issued an order that started the recount on that day at noon.”

So where does that leave us? It’s entirely unclear for now. With the executive and judicial branch of the state of Michigan both going to extraordinary lengths to try to stop the recount, even as federal court is insisting the recount happen, additional legal rulings will be required. In the mean time the people doing the recounting on the ground are left with no clear instruction as to whether to continue recounting votes or not. This story is obviously still developing.