Please ensure Javascript is enabled for purposes of website accessibility

Families Leave Gaza City After Night of Bombardment, Israelis Protest

2 hours ago

California Farming Couple Seeks $300 Million for Aspen Estate

3 hours ago

Trump Administration Cannot Sue Maryland Federal Judges Over Immigration Order, Judge Rules

4 hours ago

Fox Channels May Go Dark on YouTube TV From Wednesday Over Payment Dispute

19 hours ago

California Republicans Sue to Block Congressional Redistricting Plan

19 hours ago

Trump To Sign Executive Order Directing AG To Prosecute Flag Desecration

1 day ago

Trump Signs Orders Aimed At Ending Cashless Bail Policies

1 day ago

Fresno County DUI Crash Sends Car Into Embankment Near Highway 99

1 day ago
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

US to Seek Death Penalty in Washington D.C. Homicide Cases, Trump Says

DON'T MISS

ICE Is Suddenly Showing Up in CA Hospitals. Workers Want More Guidance on What to Do

DON'T MISS

Coarsegold Elementary Briefly Locked Down After Student Brings Starter Pistol

DON'T MISS

HHS Asks 46 States and Territories to Remove ‘Gender Ideology’ Content From Sex Ed Materials

DON'T MISS

Taylor Swift, Travis Kelce Announce Engagement

DON'T MISS

Valley Crime Stoppers’ Most Wanted Person of the Day: Enrique Arellano Ochoa

DON'T MISS

Wilted Lettuce. Rotten Strawberries. Here’s What Happens When You Round Up Farmworkers.

DON'T MISS

Big Tower District Name to Reopen Sequoia Brewing Co. in Fresno

DON'T MISS

Families Leave Gaza City After Night of Bombardment, Israelis Protest

DON'T MISS

Noble Credit Union Teams With Bulldog Foundation to Provide Full-Ride Scholarships

UP NEXT

Coarsegold Elementary Briefly Locked Down After Student Brings Starter Pistol

UP NEXT

HHS Asks 46 States and Territories to Remove ‘Gender Ideology’ Content From Sex Ed Materials

UP NEXT

Trump Urges Cracker Barrel to Revert to Old Logo

UP NEXT

California Farming Couple Seeks $300 Million for Aspen Estate

UP NEXT

Trump Administration Cannot Sue Maryland Federal Judges Over Immigration Order, Judge Rules

UP NEXT

US Threatens to Withhold Funding From States Over Truck Driver English Proficiency Rules

UP NEXT

Trump Takes His Fed Fight to Unprecedented Level With Effort to Fire Cook

UP NEXT

Trump Media, Crypto.com Announce Deal to Form Crypto Treasury Firm

UP NEXT

Fox Channels May Go Dark on YouTube TV From Wednesday Over Payment Dispute

UP NEXT

Trump Wants to Meet North Korea’s Kim This Year, He Tells South Korea

HHS Asks 46 States and Territories to Remove ‘Gender Ideology’ Content From Sex Ed Materials

56 minutes ago

Taylor Swift, Travis Kelce Announce Engagement

1 hour ago

Valley Crime Stoppers’ Most Wanted Person of the Day: Enrique Arellano Ochoa

1 hour ago

Wilted Lettuce. Rotten Strawberries. Here’s What Happens When You Round Up Farmworkers.

2 hours ago

Big Tower District Name to Reopen Sequoia Brewing Co. in Fresno

2 hours ago

Families Leave Gaza City After Night of Bombardment, Israelis Protest

2 hours ago

Noble Credit Union Teams With Bulldog Foundation to Provide Full-Ride Scholarships

2 hours ago

Fresno County Garnet Fire Burns 8,500 Acres in Sierra National Forest

2 hours ago

Trump Urges Cracker Barrel to Revert to Old Logo

3 hours ago

California Farming Couple Seeks $300 Million for Aspen Estate

3 hours ago

US to Seek Death Penalty in Washington D.C. Homicide Cases, Trump Says

The U.S. government will start seeking the death penalty in Washington, D.C., homicide cases, President Donald Trump said on Tuesday. “...

7 minutes ago

President Donald Trump holds a cabinet meeting at the White House in Washington, D.C., U.S., August 26, 2025. (Reuters File)
7 minutes ago

US to Seek Death Penalty in Washington D.C. Homicide Cases, Trump Says

A view of a sign for the Dignity Health Glendale Memorial Hospital.
30 minutes ago

ICE Is Suddenly Showing Up in CA Hospitals. Workers Want More Guidance on What to Do

A student at Coarsegold Elementary accidentally brought an unloaded starter pistol to school Monday, August 26, 2025, prompting a brief lockdown that has since been lifted, authorities said. (Madera County SO)
43 minutes ago

Coarsegold Elementary Briefly Locked Down After Student Brings Starter Pistol

A person walks outside of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services building after it was reported that the HHS will cut about 10,000 full-time jobs and close half of its regional offices, a major overhaul of the department under Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., in Washington, D.C., U.S., March 27, 2025. (Reuters File)
56 minutes ago

HHS Asks 46 States and Territories to Remove ‘Gender Ideology’ Content From Sex Ed Materials

Singer Taylor Swift and Kansas City Chiefs' Travis Kelce are seen during the final match between Italy's Jannik Sinner and Taylor Fritz of the U.S. (Reuters File)
1 hour ago

Taylor Swift, Travis Kelce Announce Engagement

Enrique Arellano Ochoa is Valley Crime Stoppers' Most Wanted Person of the Day for August 26, 2025. (Valley Crimes Stoppers)
1 hour ago

Valley Crime Stoppers’ Most Wanted Person of the Day: Enrique Arellano Ochoa

2 hours ago

Wilted Lettuce. Rotten Strawberries. Here’s What Happens When You Round Up Farmworkers.

2 hours ago

Big Tower District Name to Reopen Sequoia Brewing Co. in Fresno

Search

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

Send this to a friend