Supreme Court Denies Republican Efforts to Block PA Certification
The Trump campaign was dealt another blow in the 2020 election as Philadelphia has become the latest state to reject a lawsuit challenging the state's counting of what the campaign alleges are "illegal votes."
Republican efforts led by U.S. Representative Mike Kelly allege that approximately 2.5 million mail-in ballots were unconstitutional and that they should be thrown out from the state's count. Representative Kelly filed the lawsuit on November 21.
The plaintiffs in the lawsuit also requested that the state lawmakers (republicans control the state legislature) be able to select new presidential electors as well.
The Pennsylvania Supreme Court ruled unanimously that the lawsuit was unconstitutional. The justices cite a couple of reasons for this. The first is that if Republicans really had concerns about the validity of the mail-in ballots, they would have brought it up and seriously contested it before millions of voters cast their vote in the 2020 election. Additionally, the justices go on to explain that it was only after the Republican candidate lost that they sought to change which votes should be counted and which should not.
In a three-page statement written by Justice David Wecht, the justice explains in part, "Unsatisfied with the results of that wager, they would now flip over the table, scattering to the shadows the votes of millions of Pennsylvanians. It is not our role to lend legitimacy to such transparent and untimely efforts to subvert the will of Pennsylvania voters."
The statement from Justice Wecht has been echoed by several states and lawmakers who find the Trump campaign's attempt to change votes to be absurd.
In addition to throwing out the lawsuit, the Pennsylvania Supreme Court also threw out a decision that would have stopped the state from certifying the election results in favor of Biden. Biden won the state by over 80,000 votes after the close race between the two candidates over the first couple of days after election night. The overturned decision to stop the certification of the election results was made by one of the lower courts and came one day after Democrat Tom Wolf had announced Biden as the state's certified winner.
A String of Losses
This thrown-out decision to stop the count in Pennsylvania and the thrown-out lawsuit filed by Kelly were the final items of action contending the election results in the state.
During an interview with Fox News, Trump responded to the loss of Republican efforts in Pennsylvania by saying that Kelly would have a “great appeal” once the case was taken to the U.S. Supreme Court. It’s unclear if Kelly will actually appeal the verdict. Trump, however, has said that he will appeal several different verdicts as this lawsuit in Pennsylvania is not the first of its kind filed by the administration this election year.
Michigan and Georgia have also received similar lawsuits from the Trump campaign contesting the election results. In Arizona, a judge rejected Republican efforts to postpone the certification of the election results. Judge John Hanna described the lawsuit as “futile.”
Nevada also declined a request that tried to halt the certification of the election results across the state entirely. Wisconsin too has been a subject of an election vote contest as the Trump campaign spent around $3 million there to get votes recounted.
The deadline for states to settle disputes about election results ends on December 8. After that deadline, state electors will have an additional six days to vote by paper ballots. Congress counts votes on January 6 to announce the official winner of the election.
