DETROIT, MI – NOVEMBER 04: A worker with the Detroit Department of Elections helps process an absentee ballot at the Central Counting Board in the TCF Center on November 4, 2020 in Detroit, Michigan. After a record-breaking early voting turnout, Americans head to the polls on the last day to cast their vote for incumbent U.S. President Donald Trump or Democratic nominee Joe Biden in the 2020 presidential election. (Photo by Elaine Cromie/Getty Images)
A US District Court judge Saturday dismissed a lawsuit by the Trump campaign trying to invalidate millions of Pennsylvania mail-in votes in a significant loss for the campaign.
Though the case was always extremely unlikely to succeed, President Donald Trump’s backers and
legal team — and particularly his personal attorney Rudy Giuliani — had pinned their hopes on the
federal judge in Pennsylvania giving some credibility to their suspicions of fraud and entertaining
Trump’s attempt to overturn the popular vote for President-elect Joe Biden.
But Judge Matthew Brann, a longtime and well-known Republican in Pennsylvania, refused.
This was essentially the last major case seeking to throw out or block enough votes that could swing a
key state in Trump’s favor, and Brann’s decision on Saturday is the 30th loss or withdrawal of a case
from the Trump campaign and its allies since Election Day. There have only been two wins in court,
about very small numbers of 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,” US District Court Judge Matthew Brann wrote
Saturday.
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. That has not happened,” Brann added. “Instead, 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,” the judge
wrote.” At bottom, Plaintiffs have failed to meet their burden to state a claim upon which relief may be
granted.”
The counties in the state are scheduled to certify their election results on Monday.
The judge said any further consideration of this issue “would unduly delay resolution of the issues”
regarding certification. ( CNN / IM )
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