Trump loses 5 more post-election challenges, just in Pennsylvania

Joan McCarter

Daily Kos Staff

Tuesday November 24, 2020 · 7:14 AM PST

2020/11/24 · 07:14

WASHINGTON, DC - NOVEMBER 19: "Where is the FBI?" says Rudy Giuliani as he speaks to the press about various lawsuits related to the 2020 election, inside the Republican National Committee headquarters on November 19, 2020 in Washington, DC. President Donald Trump, who has not been seen publicly in several days, continues to push baseless claims about election fraud and dispute the results of the 2020 United States presidential election. (Photo by Drew Angerer/Getty Images)

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As Michigan was certifying President-elect Joe Biden's win in that state, and the General Services Administration’s Emily Murphy was finally bowing to the inevitable and allowing the transition to begin, Trump was getting his ass handed to him in court in Pennsylvania. Again.

The Pennsylvania Supreme Court wiped out five cases in one decision, including reversing a previous minor Trump win. The suits were attempting to invalidate 8,329 ballots in total over technicalities and the three-justice majority deciding the cases were having none of it. They wrote that "no allegations of fraud or illegality" was discovered in the canvassing of the ballots. Trump was trying to get entire blocs of ballots tossed on the "one bad apple" theory, which was rejected. "Failures to include a handwritten name, address or date in the voter declaration on the back of the outer envelope, while constituting technical violations of the Election Code, do not warrant the wholesale disenfranchisement of thousands of Pennsylvania voters," Justice Christine L. Donohue wrote for the majority.

Tuesday, Nov 24, 2020 · 4:06:18 PM +00:00 · Joan McCarter

And Pennsylvania has gone ahead and certified without the final four counties being done, given the outcome was inevitable.

While he was losing there, his "elite strike force team" of very bad lawyers and conspiracy theorists was trying to appeal a federal case to the U.S. Third Circuit with a filing that one appellate lawyer said "ascended the Mount Rushmore of banana-pants." Election law expert Rick Hasen details the bonkers in a thread, starting with the fact that the team was 19 minutes late in filing. It really goes downhill from there, including the fact that they're asking the appeals court to do things an appeals court doesn't do—like grant temporary restraining orders. It's just a mess, but the ultimate intent is to somehow get the appeals court to prevent the certification of Pennsylvania's vote—throw out all of the 6.8 million Pennsylvania votes so that the Republican legislature can pick Trump electors.

Pennsylvania counties, meanwhile, are certifying their election results. The loose deadline for certification was end of the business day Monday, but four counties missed the deadline delaying the final certification. There is no hard legal deadline for that set by state law for the presidential election, but the federal "safe harbor" deadline for certification of the presidential election is Dec. 8, when the state's 20 electors will be named. The electoral college meets and makes the election official on Dec. 14. Oh, and Biden has still won there by more than 81,000 votes.

Out of 43 post-election cases in six states, there are now 11 active and Trump has lost 35 times.

Trump loses 5 more post-election challenges, just in Pennsylvania

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