A federal appeals court on Friday rejected President Trump’s request for an emergency injunction to overturn the certification of Pennsylvania’s election results.
The Third Circuit Court of Appeals said in a scathing 21-page opinion that the Trump campaign’s challenge of a U.S. District Court’s decision had “no merit.”
“Voters, not lawyers, choose the President. Ballots, not briefs, decide elections,” the court said.
The opinion was written by Judge Stephanos Bibas, who was appointed to the court by Trump. Bibas was joined by two other Republican-appointed judges in a unanimous 3-0 panel.
“Charges of unfairness are serious. But calling an election unfair does not make it so. Charges require specific allegations and then proof. We have neither here,” Bibas wrote.
Jenna Ellis, a legal adviser to Trump’s campaign, said after the decision that the case would be taken to the Supreme Court. “On to SCOTUS!” Ellis said on Twitter.
Trump’s campaign appealed to the Third Circuit after the district court last weekend dismissed its federal lawsuit against Pennsylvania election authorities and rejected the campaign’s request to be allowed to revise the suit to add more allegations.
The lawsuit sought to halt certification of Pennsylvania’s results on the grounds that Republicans were illegally disadvantaged as some Democratic-leaning areas allowed voters to fix administrative errors on their mail ballots.
Pennsylvania Secretary of State Kathy Boockvar certified the results on Tuesday, making official Trump’s defeat to President-elect Joe Biden in the state. Biden beat Trump by more than 81,000 votes.
But Bibas noted in his decision on Friday that Trump’s campaign “never claims fraud or that any votes were cast by illegal voters.” He pointed to a remark made during a hearing on the lawsuit by Rudolph W. Giuliani, Trump’s personal attorney, that it was “not a fraud case.”
The court ruled that granting Trump’s “grossly disproportionate” request to throw out the results would be “drastic and unprecedented, disenfranchising a huge swath of the electorate and upsetting all down-ballot races too.”
Friday’s decision by the appeals court technically dealt with the Trump campaign’s challenge of the lower court’s refusal to allow it to amend its lawsuit. Giuliani wanted to refile the suit, adding allegations that official Republican observers were not allowed to watch votes being counted. (Trump’s lawyers had previously said in court that some were allowed to observe.)
But the appeals court’s opinion went further, stating in stark terms that Trump’s legal effort had no chance of succeeding. “The campaign cannot win this lawsuit,” it said.
“No federal law requires poll watchers or specifies where they must live or how close they may stand when votes are counted. Nor does federal law govern whether to count ballots with minor state-law defects or let voters cure those defects,” Bibas wrote.
The court’s decision came on a day that Trump began by repeatedly tweeting falsehoods about the election results and insisting anew that he had won. Official results show Biden defeating Trump by more than 6.1 million votes nationally — more than 80 million to just under 74 million — and leading in the electoral college 306 to 232.
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Federal appeals court panel rejects Trump request to block certification of Pennsylvania’s election results
By Jon SwaineNovember 27, 2020 at 1:05 p.m. EST
A federal appeals court on Friday rejected President Trump’s request for an emergency injunction to overturn the certification of Pennsylvania’s election results.
The Third Circuit Court of Appeals said in a scathing 21-page opinion that the Trump campaign’s challenge of a U.S. District Court’s decision had “no merit.”Support our journalism. Subscribe today.
“Voters, not lawyers, choose the President. Ballots, not briefs, decide elections,” the court said.
The opinion was written by Judge Stephanos Bibas, who was appointed to the court by Trump. Bibas was joined by two other Republican-appointed judges in a unanimous 3-0 panel.
“Charges of unfairness are serious. But calling an election unfair does not make it so. Charges require specific allegations and then proof. We have neither here,” Bibas wrote.Default Mono Sans Mono Serif Sans Serif Comic Fancy Small CapsDefault X-Small Small Medium Large X-Large XX-LargeDefault Outline Dark Outline Light Outline Dark Bold Outline Light Bold Shadow Dark Shadow Light Shadow Dark Bold Shadow Light BoldDefault Black Silver Gray White Maroon Red Purple Fuchsia Green Lime Olive Yellow Navy Blue Teal Aqua OrangeDefault 100% 75% 50% 25% 0%Default Black Silver Gray White Maroon Red Purple Fuchsia Green Lime Olive Yellow Navy Blue Teal Aqua OrangeDefault 100% 75% 50% 25% 0%Trump calls into Pennsylvania hearingPresident Trump on Nov. 25 phoned into a Pennsylvania state Senate hearing where he falsely claimed that Joe Biden stole the presidential election. (Reuters)
Jenna Ellis, a legal adviser to Trump’s campaign, said after the decision that the case would be taken to the Supreme Court. “On to SCOTUS!”
Trump’s campaign appealed to the Third Circuit after the district court last weekend dismissed its federal lawsuit against Pennsylvania election authorities and rejected the campaign’s request to be allowed to revise the suit to add more allegations.
The lawsuit sought to halt certification of Pennsylvania’s results on the grounds that Republicans were illegally disadvantaged as some Democratic-leaning areas allowed voters to fix administrative errors on their mail ballots.
Pennsylvania Secretary of State Kathy Boockvar certified the results on Tuesday, making official Trump’s defeat to President-elect Joe Biden in the state. Biden beat Trump by more than 81,000 votes.AD
But Bibas noted in his decision on Friday that Trump’s campaign “never claims fraud or that any votes were cast by illegal voters.” He pointed to a remark made during a hearing on the lawsuit by Rudolph W. Giuliani, Trump’s personal attorney, that it was “not a fraud case.”
The court ruled that granting Trump’s “grossly disproportionate” request to throw out the results would be “drastic and unprecedented, disenfranchising a huge swath of the electorate and upsetting all down-ballot races too.”
Friday’s decision by the appeals court technically dealt with the Trump campaign’s challenge of the lower court’s refusal to allow it to amend its lawsuit. Giuliani wanted to refile the suit, adding allegations that official Republican observers were not allowed to watch votes being counted. (Trump’s lawyers had previously said in court that some were allowed to observe.)AD
But the appeals court’s opinion went further, stating in stark terms that Trump’s legal effort had no chance of succeeding. “The campaign cannot win this lawsuit,” it said.
“No federal law requires poll watchers or specifies where they must live or how close they may stand when votes are counted. Nor does federal law govern whether to count ballots with minor state-law defects or let voters cure those defects,” Bibas wrote.
The court’s decision came on a day that Trump began by repeatedly tweeting falsehoods about the election results and insisting anew that he had won. Official results show Biden defeating Trump by more than 6.1 million votes nationally — more than 80 million to just under 74 million — and leading in the electoral college 306 to 232.
“Biden can only enter the White House as President if he can prove that his ridiculous “80,000,000 votes” were not fraudulently or illegally obtained. When you see what happened in Detroit, Atlanta, Philadelphia & Milwaukee, massive voter fraud, he’s got a big unsolvable problem!” Trump falsely asserted.
On Thanksgiving, Trump vowed to keep fighting to overturn the election he lost, despite repeated defeats in the courts.
“It’s going to be a very hard thing to concede,” he told reporters of the election. Aides have privately said Trump will never concede that he lost.
Asked whether he would attend Biden’s inauguration, he demurred. “I know the answer,” he said, though he declined to provide it.
Even as most of his lawyers have quit and many campaign officials say the effort to overturn the election is going nowhere, Trump said it was going “very well.”
Trump continued to falsely claim that there had been widespread voter fraud, without offering proof. And he again falsely said Republican poll watchers were not allowed to observe in Pennsylvania.
“I don’t think it’s right he’s trying to pick a Cabinet,” Trump said of Biden. Trump had blocked a presidential transition for several weeks but relented this week and allowed his team to go forward
The Washington Post
