Pennsylvania judge throws out Trump lawsuit, clearing way for Biden win
Judge clears way for Biden win in battleground state
A Pennsylvania judge threw out a lawsuit that sought to prevent the state from certifying the election results in favor of President-elect Joe Biden, who won the state by about 80,000 votes.
U.S. Middle District Judge Matthew Brann in Williamsport, Penn., rejected a request by the Trump campaign for an injunction that would stop the certification of the election, as the campaign seeks to overturn results is swing states across the country.
“Plaintiffs ask this Court to disenfranchise almost seven million voters,” Brann said Saturday. “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.”
“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,” he added.
The president argued that the Constitution's guarantee of equal protection under the law was violated by the state, when counties took different measures to inform voters of technical issues that arose with the unprecedented number of mail-in ballots.
Pennsylvania Secretary of State Kathy Boockvar, along with seven counties which were sued by the Trump campaign and where Biden led, argued Trump had already raised similar claims.
“Among the grounds that could justify a denial of leave to amend are undue delay, bad faith, dilatory motive, prejudice, and futility,” the federal judge said Saturday.
“Given that: (1) Plaintiffs have already amended once as of right; (2) Plaintiffs seek to amend simply in order to effectively reinstate their initial complaint and claims; and (3) the deadline for counties in Pennsylvania to certify their election results to Secretary Boockvar is November 23, 2020, amendment would unduly delay resolution of the issues,” the ruling by Brann said.
Even if Trump had been able to successfully overturn the state’s vote tabulation and win Pennsylvania, the state’s 20 electoral votes would not have been enough to secure him re-election after Georgia confirmed Biden flipped the traditionally red state Friday.