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 4 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

California’s Schools Chief Has a $200,000 Salary and a Side Gig

DON'T MISS

Why Project Labor Agreements Are Good for Our Schools and Students: Opinion

DON'T MISS

Trump Proposes Tax Deduction for Auto Loan Interest on US-Made Cars

DON'T MISS

Western US Sees Sharp Increase in Extreme Weather Impact

DON'T MISS

Amazon Said to Make a Bid to Buy TikTok in the US

DON'T MISS

Fresno Man Found Dead, Coroner’s Office Seeks Help Finding Family

DON'T MISS

The ‘Six’ Wives of King Henry VIII Sing Their Hearts Out in Fresno

DON'T MISS

7-Year-Old Girl Was Killed by a Falling Boulder at a Lake Tahoe Ski Resort

DON'T MISS

Musk Could Be Headed for a Washington Exit After Turbulent Times at Trump’s DOGE

DON'T MISS

Outrage Grows Over Maryland Man’s Mistaken Deportation to El Salvador Prison

UP NEXT

7-Year-Old Girl Was Killed by a Falling Boulder at a Lake Tahoe Ski Resort

UP NEXT

Xavier Becerra Enters 2026 California Governor’s Race

UP NEXT

Elon Musk Reclaims Top Spot on Forbes’ Billionaires List

UP NEXT

Lakers Hold Off Rockets With 6 3-Pointers Apiece From Dorian Finney-Smith, Gabe Vincent

UP NEXT

Athletics Bat Boy Stewart Thalblum Takes Down Drone in Left Field

UP NEXT

NFL Postpones Tush Push Decision but Passes Other Rule Changes, AP Source Says

UP NEXT

March Madness: It’s South Carolina vs. Texas and UCLA vs. UConn in Women’s Final Four

UP NEXT

What to Watch in Tuesday’s Big Elections in Wisconsin and Florida

UP NEXT

Major Layoffs Begin at Health Agencies That Track Disease and Regulate Food

UP NEXT

U.S. Bank Executive Terry Dolan Dies in Plane Crash Near Minneapolis

Western US Sees Sharp Increase in Extreme Weather Impact

1 hour ago

Amazon Said to Make a Bid to Buy TikTok in the US

1 hour ago

Fresno Man Found Dead, Coroner’s Office Seeks Help Finding Family

1 hour ago

The ‘Six’ Wives of King Henry VIII Sing Their Hearts Out in Fresno

2 hours ago

7-Year-Old Girl Was Killed by a Falling Boulder at a Lake Tahoe Ski Resort

2 hours ago

Musk Could Be Headed for a Washington Exit After Turbulent Times at Trump’s DOGE

2 hours ago

Outrage Grows Over Maryland Man’s Mistaken Deportation to El Salvador Prison

2 hours ago

Kings County Chase Ends in Meth Arrest, but Deputies Are Looking for Driver

2 hours ago

Xavier Becerra Enters 2026 California Governor’s Race

2 hours ago

Reps. Costa, Gray Propose Bill to Address Critical Doctor Shortage in Rural Areas

3 hours ago

California’s Schools Chief Has a $200,000 Salary and a Side Gig

This story was originally published by CalMatters. Sign up for their newsletters. State Superintendent of Public Instruction Tony Thurmond h...

25 minutes ago

25 minutes ago

California’s Schools Chief Has a $200,000 Salary and a Side Gig

West Fresno satellite campus of Fresno City College
47 minutes ago

Why Project Labor Agreements Are Good for Our Schools and Students: Opinion

1 hour ago

Trump Proposes Tax Deduction for Auto Loan Interest on US-Made Cars

A new Gallup poll shows that extreme weather events have sharply increased in the Western U.S., with 43% of residents affected, largely due to wildfires and extreme heat, while concerns about climate change continue to rise. (Shutterstock AI)
1 hour ago

Western US Sees Sharp Increase in Extreme Weather Impact

An Amazon distribution facility in Garner, N.C., on Feb. 8, 2025. Amazon has reportedly put in a last-minute bid to acquire all of TikTok, the popular video app, as it approaches an April deadline to be separated from its Chinese owner or face a ban in the United States, according to three people familiar with the bid. (Kate Medley/The New York Times)
1 hour ago

Amazon Said to Make a Bid to Buy TikTok in the US

The Fresno County Sheriff’s Coroner’s Office is asking for public assistance in locating the family of 60-year-old Jonathan Scott, who passed away from natural causes on March 17, 2025. (Fresno County SO)
1 hour ago

Fresno Man Found Dead, Coroner’s Office Seeks Help Finding Family

2 hours ago

The ‘Six’ Wives of King Henry VIII Sing Their Hearts Out in Fresno

Photo of Incline Village, Nevada, taken on Feb. 2, 2029. A 7-year-old girl, Adelyn Grimes of Reno, was killed by a falling boulder while climbing a hillside at Diamond Peak ski resort in Incline Village, Nevada, over the weekend. (Shutterstock)
2 hours ago

7-Year-Old Girl Was Killed by a Falling Boulder at a Lake Tahoe Ski Resort

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

Search

Send this to a friend