On January 7, 2021, Pennsylvania attorney Jerome Marcus requested to withdraw from a suit he initiated on behalf of the Trump campaign in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania. The suit, filed against the Philadelphia County Board of Elections on November 4, 2020, alleges that “the County Board of Elections is…intentionally refusing to allow any representatives and poll watchers for President Trump and the Republican Party.”

The suit therefore requested an Emergency Injunction barring the Defendant County Board of Elections from continuing to count any ballots so long as Republican observers are not present as required by state law.

Marcus, in an article he subsequently wrote for The Federalist, explains that he noticed that the handful of Republican observers who could get into the room weren’t being allowed up to the barrier set at six feet from the closest tables where work was being done. So even though they were in the room where it was happening, they had no way to tell what was happening.

Therefore, on a borrowed laptop at around 2 p.m. on election day, I typed up a very short document to start a federal lawsuit and to request that the federal court intervene to prohibit these unfair practices. At about 4:30 p.m., its filing was authorized by the campaign.

He continues:

the federal judge ordered a hearing that began at 5:30 p.m. and went for two hours. In open court, the judge compelled the Board of Elections to agree that the Republicans could have up to 60 representatives in the room. That was a huge victory, not only for Republicans but for anyone who actually wants to have a vote tabulation worthy of belief.

Marcus accordingly maintained that, having secured this agreement from the Board of Elections, the court dismissed the…motion for court-ordered relief as moot. Courts often do that when they secure an agreement between the parties. It means the court doesn’t have to issue an order, which would be appealable, granting or denying the motion, and it means the court doesn’t have to write an opinion.

Other accounts of the hearing tell a different story as to why the case was dismissed. According to Politico, Marcus acknowledged in court that there was a “nonzero number of people” observing the process for Republicans. “I’m sorry, then what’s your problem?” U.S. District Court Judge Paul Diamond shot back.

In either event, the request for the preliminary injunction was denied, and that ought to have been the end of the matter. By any standard, now that the Electoral College vote has been certified by Congress, the case is dead in the water and Marcus’ role in it is moot.

Nevertheless, he requested Thursday to withdraw from the action.

Now talking to Politico rather than writing for The Federalist, Marcus condemned the January 6, 2021 rioting inside the Capitol. Looking back to his own work on behalf of the Trump campaign, he stated: I believe that the filing of that and other cases was used by President Trump yesterday to incite people to violence. I refer specifically to his urging people to come to Washington for a “wild” protest…I want absolutely no part of that. Therefore I have asked the court to allow me to withdraw as counsel.

Although the President did tweet “big protest in D.C. on January 6. Be there, will be wild!” he did so in mid-December. Marcus didn’t object to the language until January 7.

Marcus’ brief motion for leave to withdraw reads as follows:

The Undersigned respectfully requests leave of this Court to withdraw as counsel for Plaintiff in this action pursuant to Pennsylvania Rule of Professional Conduct 1.16 (b) (3) and (4) inasmuch as the client has used the lawyer’s services to perpetrate a crime and the client insists upon taking action that the lawyer considers repugnant and with which the lawyer has a fundamental disagreement.

Marcus follows in the footsteps of the Trump White House staffers (including two members of the cabinet) who resigned in the wake of the riots, thirteen days before the end of the administration. To date, no ruling has been made on Marcus’ motion. Given that the case has been dead for two months, none should be expected anytime soon.