Please ensure Javascript is enabled for purposes of website accessibility
Trump Campaign Lawsuit in Pennsylvania Vote Heads to Court
gvw_ap_news
By Associated Press
Published 5 years ago on
November 17, 2020

Share

A hearing on the Trump campaign’s federal lawsuit seeking to prevent Pennsylvania officials from certifying the vote results remains on track for Tuesday after a judge quickly denied the campaign’s new lawyer’s request for a delay.

U.S. District Judge Matthew Brann told lawyers for Donald J. Trump for President Inc. and the counties and state election official it has sued that they must show up and “be prepared for argument and questioning” at the federal courthouse in Williamsport.

It also may feature Rudy Giuliani, the former New York City mayor and the president’s personal attorney, who filed Tuesday morning to represent Trump in the case. He has not entered an appearance in federal court since 1992, according to online court records. That was the year before he was elected mayor.

The Trump campaign wants to prevent certification of results that give President-elect Joe Biden the state’s 20 electoral votes, suing over election procedures that were not uniform across the state. Giuliani has promised a raft of lawsuits and to provide Trump with evidence of voter fraud in the drive to overturn the election result.

Pennsylvania Secretary of State Kathy Boockvar, a Democrat, has asked to have the lawsuit thrown out, calling its allegations in court filings “at best, garden-variety irregularities.”

Brann scheduled the hearing to discuss the campaign’s request for a temporary restraining order as well as the defendants’ request to have the case dismissed.

After Pittsburgh lawyers dropped out of representing Trump’s campaign on Friday, Philadelphia election lawyer Linda Kerns and two Texas lawyers also withdrew Monday.

Camp Hill lawyer Mark Scaringi, a losing candidate in the 2012 Republican U.S. Senate primary, notified the judge he was stepping in but did not get the delay he sought.

Biden’s Margin in Pennsylvania Is Now Nearly 70,000 Votes

The Associated Press has declared Biden the winner of the presidential contest, but Trump has refused to concede and is blocking Biden’s efforts toward a smoother transition of power. With Georgia the only uncalled state, Biden has collected at least 290 electoral votes — just enough that overturning Pennsylvania’s result would not open an avenue to a second term for Trump.

Biden’s margin in Pennsylvania is now nearly 70,000 votes.

There is no evidence of widespread fraud in the 2020 election, and experts say Trump’s various lawsuits have no chance of reversing the outcome in a single state, let alone the election. In fact, election officials from both political parties have stated publicly that the election went well, and international observers confirmed there were no serious irregularities.

The issues Trump’s campaign and its allies have pointed to are typical in every election: problems with signatures, secrecy envelopes and postal marks on mail-in ballots, as well as the potential for a small number of ballots miscast or lost.

Trump’s campaign has also launched legal challenges complaining that its poll watchers were unable to scrutinize the voting process. Many of those challenges were tossed out by judges, some within hours.

Trump’s legal team has so far scored just two small victories. In one case, a court allowed their observers to stand a little closer to election workers processing mail-in ballots in Philadelphia. In another, Pennsylvania counties were ordered not to count mail-in or absentee ballots for which the voter didn’t submit valid identification within six days after the election, but that ruling is expected to affect no more than a few thousand ballots.

A slew of other legal challenges brought by Republicans have quickly been swatted down or withdrawn.

One Trump Campaign Case That Is Still Pending Seeks to Block the Certification of Election Results in Michigan

On Monday, a conservative group that has been pushing baseless claims that absentee voting is rife with fraud abruptly dropped lawsuits it had filed in Wisconsin, Michigan, Pennsylvania and Georgia with no explanation.

One Trump campaign case that is still pending seeks to block the certification of election results in Michigan, but the state appeals court on Monday denied another bid to stop the certification of Detroit-area votes.

In Pennsylvania, the Trump legal challenge being heard Tuesday centers on how some counties let voters fix, or “cure,” mail-in ballots that lacked secrecy envelopes or had other problems. The Trump campaign’s lawsuit claims counties’ inconsistent practices violated constitutional rights of due process and equal protection under the law and resulted in the “unlawful dilution or debasement” of properly cast votes.

“Democratic heavy counties,” the lawsuit alleges, notified voters about the lack of secrecy envelopes or other problems in time for some to fix them, but counties in Republican regions “followed the law and did not provide a notice and cure process, disenfranchising many.”

The lawsuit seeks to stop Boockvar and election boards in seven Biden-majority counties that are co-defendants from counting absentee and mail-in ballots that the Republican president’s campaign claims were “improperly permitted to be cured.”

Boockvar’s lawyers described Trump’s claims as generalized grievances and speculative injuries that would not warrant throwing out the election results.

They told Brann that other counties could have permitted their voters to fix problem mail-in ballots, but chose not to.

“Election practices need not cater to the lowest common denominator, and Plaintiffs’ arguments would improperly penalize those counties that are enfranchising voters by helping them avoid ballot disqualification,” they wrote.

RELATED TOPICS:

DON'T MISS

What Are Fresno Real Estate Experts Predicting for 2025 and Beyond?

DON'T MISS

First California EV Mandates Hit Automakers This Year. Most Are Not Even Close

DON'T MISS

Clovis Memorial Run Brings the Community Together, Supports Senior Programs

DON'T MISS

Attorney Error Lowers Fees in Fresno Measure P Case

DON'T MISS

Trump Gives Commencement Address at West Point, Stressing a New Era

DON'T MISS

9 of a Doctor’s 10 Children Are Killed in Israel’s Latest Strikes in Gaza

DON'T MISS

Daisy Can’t See or Hear, but She Knows How to Love

DON'T MISS

How to Travel Without a Phone

DON'T MISS

Chukchansi Casino Hosts Job Fair to Fill 80 Food and Beverage Positions

DON'T MISS

California’s High Living Costs and Rampant Poverty Sharpen Its Economic Divide

DON'T MISS

Fresno County Man Killed in Head-On Collision Identified

DON'T MISS

California Allocates $56 Million to Combat Youth Homelessness

UP NEXT

Low-Income Compton Students Get $225M State-of-the-Art High School Campus

UP NEXT

Everyone Now Has an Opinion on Jake Tapper

UP NEXT

Braves Star Ronald Acuña Jr. to Return Friday From Left Knee Injury

UP NEXT

Dave Shapiro, Groundbreaking Music Executive, Dies in San Diego Plane Crash at 42

UP NEXT

CA State Senator Cited for Suspicion of Impaired Driving, Says She Wasn’t Intoxicated

UP NEXT

Kim Kardashian Dons a Graduation Cap and Marches Closer to Becoming a Lawyer

UP NEXT

Multiple People on Private Plane That Crashed Into San Diego Neighborhood Are Dead

UP NEXT

2 Israeli Embassy Staffers Killed in Shooting Near DC Jewish Museum

UP NEXT

Pacers Tie It on Haliburton’s Jumper at Buzzer, Then Beat Knicks in OT of East Finals Game 1

UP NEXT

What Travelers Should Know About This Messy Memorial Day Weekend

9 of a Doctor’s 10 Children Are Killed in Israel’s Latest Strikes in Gaza

14 hours ago

Daisy Can’t See or Hear, but She Knows How to Love

19 hours ago

How to Travel Without a Phone

20 hours ago

Chukchansi Casino Hosts Job Fair to Fill 80 Food and Beverage Positions

20 hours ago

California’s High Living Costs and Rampant Poverty Sharpen Its Economic Divide

21 hours ago

Fresno County Man Killed in Head-On Collision Identified

1 day ago

California Allocates $56 Million to Combat Youth Homelessness

1 day ago

Let the Hunt for Fresno County Fruit Trail Delights Begin!

1 day ago

Fresno Police Arrest Suspect in Southwest Shooting Through Valley Crime Stoppers’ Tip

1 day ago

18 Injured in Knife Attack in Hamburg, Report Says

1 day ago

Clovis Memorial Run Brings the Community Together, Supports Senior Programs

The annual Clovis Memorial Run brought runners and walkers to the new Clovis Senior Activity Center on May 24, featuring multiple races that...

8 hours ago

8 hours ago

Clovis Memorial Run Brings the Community Together, Supports Senior Programs

13 hours ago

Attorney Error Lowers Fees in Fresno Measure P Case

14 hours ago

Trump Gives Commencement Address at West Point, Stressing a New Era

14 hours ago

9 of a Doctor’s 10 Children Are Killed in Israel’s Latest Strikes in Gaza

Blind and deaf, Daisy is a gentle senior pup who has blossomed in foster care and is now searching for a loving home. (Mell's Mutts)
19 hours ago

Daisy Can’t See or Hear, but She Knows How to Love

20 hours ago

How to Travel Without a Phone

20 hours ago

Chukchansi Casino Hosts Job Fair to Fill 80 Food and Beverage Positions

California Wealth and Poverty
21 hours ago

California’s High Living Costs and Rampant Poverty Sharpen Its Economic Divide

Help continue the work that gets you the news that matters most.

Search

Send this to a friend