US president Donald Trump won the 2016 election despite losing the national popular vote. (EPA Images pic)WASHINGTON: US President Donald Trump asked the US Supreme Court on Friday to revive his dismissed lawsuit against his 2016 Democratic rival Hillary Clinton accusing her of conspiring along with former FBI Director James Comey and others to rig that year's election by linking his campaign to Russia.

The Republican president filed his appeal after a federal judge threw out the case and imposed nearly US$1 million in sanctions against Trump and one of his lawyers for bringing a "frivolous" suit. A US appeals court subsequently upheld the dismissal and sanctions.

Trump's lawyers wrote in the appeal that Supreme Court review of the case is needed in order to protect the presidency. They wrote that the decisions by the lower courts reflect "a deeply troubling trend of federal courts using sanctions and disciplinary threats to punish the president and his lawyers for legitimate legal positions that those courts (erroneously) reject."