Wisconsin Supreme Court declines to hear Trump campaign lawsuit.

"The Wisconsin Supreme Court on Thursday refused to hear President Donald Trump’s lawsuit attempting to overturn his loss to Democrat Joe Biden in the battleground state, saying the case must first wind its way through lower courts." (Associated Press)

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• The Wisconsin Supreme Court declined to hear the Trump campaign's lawsuit and said it must go through the lower courts first.

• The Trump campaign had filed a lawsuit with the Wisconsin Supreme Court to challenge more than 220,000 ballots.

• The first question of the lawsuit is which court should hear it -- and whether the Trump campaign could go straight to the Wisconsin Supreme Court with its lawsuit (as it did) or whether it had to go through lower courts first (as is normally done). The state Supreme Court ruled today that the suits must go through lower courts first.

As the Associated Press reported, with emphasis ours: "In Wisconsin, Trump wants to skip lower courts, saying in his lawsuit that there isn’t time to go through the normal process due to the looming Dec. 14 date when electors will gather to cast the state’s 10 Electoral College votes. The state Supreme Court could deny Trump’s request to hear the case, forcing it to lower courts, which would likely kill it."

• The lawsuit was expected, as President Trump previously said his campaign would challenge the recount result, tweeting that a lawsuit "will be brought after the recount is over, on Monday or Tuesday."

• As the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reported: "The campaign is challenging 170,140 ballots that were cast early, 28,395 ballots cast by voters who claimed to be indefinitely confined, 17,271 ballots collected at 'Democracy in the Park' events, and 5,517 ballots for which clerks filled in missing information." (The newspaper has a good overview of each category.)

• As National Review reported: "The head of the Trump campaign’s Wisconsin legal team, former Wisconsin Circuit Court Judge Jim Troupis, admitted that Wisconsin’s ten electoral votes likely will not change the overall outcome of the election but said the campaign also sees long-term benefits of challenging the election process in the state."

• Earlier, Wisconsin certified its election results and declared Joe Biden the winner. This was after the state finished a two-county recount at the request of the Trump campaign.

Georgia state senate holds two hearings today on the "integrity of Georgia's voting process."

"The Georgia State Senate will hold two hearings today on the state's election processes, after a tight presidential race that has gave way to a rancorous fight over its outcome." (11Alive News)

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• The Georgia state legislature will hold two hearings today on the election. The Senate Government Oversight Committee held a hearing this morning; a Senate Judiciary subcommittee is holding one this afternoon.

• Both hearings focus on "the integrity of Georgia's voting process" in the 2020 election.

• Earlier this week, Michigan held similar hearings. A Michigan Senate committee met for seven hours on Tuesday; a Michigan House committee met last night, too.

New poll shows Democratic candidates hold narrow lead for Georgia Senate run-off races.

"Democrat Rev. Raphael Warnock holds a lead over GOP Sen. Kelly Loeffler (Ga.) in a poll of one of two Georgia runoff races that will determine the balance of the Senate." (The Hill)

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• A new poll shows Democratic candidate Raphael Warnock with a 7-point lead over Republican Sen. Kelly Loeffler in one of the two Georgia Senate run-off races.

• The same poll shows Democratic candidate Jon Ossoff with a 2-point lead over Republican Sen. David Perdue.

• The Georgia Senate run-off races on January 5th will determine which party controls the U.S. Senate next year. Right now, the Senate is set at 50 Republicans to 48 Democrats.