WILLIAMSPORT – After a federal judge dismissed the attempt of President Donald Trump’s re-election campaign to prevent the certification of results signifying President-Elect Joe Biden’s win in the state of Pennsylvania with prejudice this past weekend, the Trump campaign has appealed the ruling to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit.
On Saturday, U.S. District Court Judge Matthew W. Brann threw out the suit, which had alleged that the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania’s lack of uniform procedure based in election law created an unconstitutional and “two-track” ballot counting system that gave the win to Biden.
It also claimed that observers were not permitted to witness the counting of over 682,000 votes in heavily-Democratic Philadelphia and Allegheny counties, and further seeks the dismissal of additional mail-in ballots which the campaign said were allowed to be cured, despite being defective.
The suit was filed against Secretary of the Commonwealth Kathy Boockvar and the Boards of Elections of the following seven counties: Allegheny, Centre, Chester, Delaware, Philadelphia, Montgomery and Northampton.
An amended version of the suit filed on Nov. 15 dropped the improper poll-watching claims, and what remained were allegations targeting county election officials for their supposed improper handling of mail-in ballots and violation of state election law.
Counsel for the Trump campaign recently sought to file a second amended complaint, citing “extraordinary circumstances” and the improper withdrawal of its prior claims – but Brann ruled strongly against any such move blocking certification of the state’s election results, which was due to occur Monday.
Biden leads over Trump in Pennsylvania by just over 80,000 votes.
“Plaintiffs ask this Court to disenfranchise almost seven million voters. This Court has been unable to find any case in which a plaintiff has sought such a drastic remedy in the contest of an election, in terms of the sheer volume of votes asked to be invalidated,” Brann said.
“One might expect that when seeking such a startling outcome, a plaintiff would come formidably armed with compelling legal arguments and factual proof of rampant corruption, such that this Court would have no option but to regrettably grant the proposed injunctive relief despite the impact it would have on such a large group of citizens.”
Brann continued by chastising the Trump campaign’s lack of supporting evidence for its claims, and compared the weaving together of legal theories to support its allegations as similar to that of “Frankenstein’s Monster.”
In response to the Trump campaign’s efforts to disqualify the votes of millions of Pennsylvania voters, Brann stated, “That is simply not how the Constitution works.”
“This court has been presented with strained legal arguments without merit and speculative accusations, unpled in the operative complaint and unsupported by evidence. In the United States of America, this cannot justify the disenfranchisement of a single voter, let alone all the voters of its sixth most populated state. Our people, laws and institutions demand more,” Brann stated.
Former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani, now serving as lead counsel on the case after the president’s initial legal teams withdrew their representation, issued a statement criticizing Brann’s ruling and noted the campaign is appealing.
“Today’s decision turns out to help us in our strategy to get expeditiously to the U.S. Supreme Court. Although we fully disagree with this opinion, we’re thankful to the Obama-appointed judge for making this anticipated decision quickly, rather than simply trying to run out the clock. We will be seeking an expedited appeal to the Third Circuit,” Giuliani said.
“We are disappointed we did not at least get the opportunity to present our evidence at a hearing. Unfortunately, the censorship continues. We hope that the Third Circuit will be as gracious as Judge Brann in deciding our appeal one way or the other as expeditiously as possible. This is another case that appears to be moving quickly to the United States Supreme Court.”
Despite Giuliani’s jab at Brann for being appointed by former President Barack Obama, Brann was a Republican Party official in Pennsylvania for years before being chosen for the federal bench, is seen as a conservative judge and was unanimously confirmed to his seat by members of the U.S. Senate.
Michael Gwin, a spokesman for Biden, said, “Yet another court has rejected Trump and Giuliani’s baseless claims of voter fraud and their appalling assault on our democracy. The judge’s ruling couldn’t be clearer: Our people, laws, and institutions demand more – and our country will not tolerate Trump’s attempt to reverse the results of an election that he decisively lost.”
The Trump campaign's appeal to the Third Circuit on Monday featured a request for temporary restraining order seeking to stop the certification of the results in Pennsylvania.
U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit case 20-3371
U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Pennsylvania case 4:20-cv-02078
From the Pennsylvania Record: Reach Courts Reporter Nicholas Malfitano at nick.malfitano@therecordinc.com