Federal and state lawyers will meet next week to negotiate a settlement for money that North Dakota claims it spent policing protests against the Dakota Access oil pipeline.

Kathy Kratt of Orlando, Fla., displays her Trump flags as she and other protesters demonstrate their support for President Donald Trump at the Supreme Court in Washington, Friday, Dec. 11, 2020. Trump bemoaned the decision late Friday, tweeting: “The Supreme Court really let us down. Two days after Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton filed his suit, Trump jumped into the high court case. “If the Supreme Court shows great Wisdom and Courage, the American People will win perhaps the most important case in history, and our Electoral Process will be respected again!” he tweeted Friday afternoon. Many Republican voters in several states won by Biden have demanded that their elected officials find a way to invalidate the president-elect's victories.

“But it’s worth it for the Supreme Court to weigh in and settle it once and for all,” he said. He has spent the week relentlessly tweeting about the Texas case with the hashtag “overturn” and claiming, falsely, that he had won the election but was robbed. Spencer Cox, who will become governor in January, blasted Attorney General Sean Reyes for deciding to join the suit. “The Attorney General did not consult us before signing on to this brief, so we don’t know what his motivation is,” they said in a joint statement. Despite the political pressure, Idaho’s Republican attorney general chose not to join the Texas suit.

BISMARCK, N.D. The Army Corps of Engineers is recommending that the federal government negotiate a settlement with North Dakota for more than $38 million that the state spent policing protests against the Dakota Access oil pipeline. North Dakota Republican U.S. Sen. Kevin Cramer called the recommendation very significant and the right thing to do for the federal government. North Dakota assumed all costs including the cleanup of actions facilitated by the Corps of Engineers, Cramer said Tuesday. Thousands of opponents gathered in southern North Dakota in 2016 and early 2017, camping on federal land and often clashing with police. If not, we will prepare for trial.Stenehjem said North Dakota has a strong case and holds the upper hand in negotiations now with the federal judges ruling last month.