The United States District Court for the Middle District of Pennsylvania Saturday dismissed a Trump campaign lawsuit that sought to invalidate nearly 7 million legally cast votes.
This decision came on the same morning that a federal court in Georgia denied a similar attempt to disenfranchise voters. The Trump campaign brought their lawsuit in Pennsylvania on the evening of November 9. The original complaint was filed against Secretary of State Kathy Boockvar, as well as the election boards of Allegheny, Centre, Chester, Delaware, Montgomery, Northampton, and Philadelphia counties. The Trump campaign sought to exclude all mail-in ballots from those counties, all of which voted for President-elect Joe Biden.
Judge Matthew Brann harshly criticized the Trump campaign, saying in his opinion:
“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.”
He further called the case a “Frankenstein’s monster” and said that the Trump campaign lacked standing to pursue the challenge before dismissing the case with prejudice for a failure to state a claim upon which relief can be granted.
An October 2019 act by the Republican-controlled Pennsylvania state legislature extended the opportunity for all registered Pennsylvanians to vote by mail without an excuse. As a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, the state had a record number of mail-in and absentee ballots cast.
The Pennsylvania election results will be certified Monday. Joe Biden currently has an 80,000 vote lead, nearly double the margin by which Trump defeated Hilary Clinton in the state in the 2016 presidential election.