48°
Baton Rouge, Louisiana
7 Day Forecast
Follow our weather team on social media

Fed appeals court denies President Trump's attempt to revive Pennsylvania lawsuit, saying 'claims have no merit'

3 years 3 months 4 weeks ago Friday, November 27 2020 Nov 27, 2020 November 27, 2020 2:55 PM November 27, 2020 in News
Source: CNN

According to CNN, a federal appeals court ruled against the Trump campaign's attempt to revive a federal lawsuit challenging the election results in Pennsylvania, ruling "the claims have no merit."

On Friday, a panel of three judges for the Third Circuit Court of Appeals denied the request by the Trump campaign, led by Rudy Giuliani, to amend its lawsuit, which had been previously rejected.

"The Campaign never alleges that any ballot was fraudulent or cast by an illegal voter," wrote Judge Stephanos Bibas, a Trump appointee, for the panel. "It never alleges that any defendant treated the Trump campaign or its votes worse than it treated the Biden campaign or its votes. Calling something discrimination does not make it so. The Second Amended Complaint still suffers from these core defects, so granting leave to amend would have been futile."

"Charges of unfairness are serious. But calling an election unfair does not make it so. Charges require specific allegations and then proof. We have neither here," the judges added in their opinion.

The President and some of his allies have been calling into question the legitimacy of the 2020 election, implying that it was fraudulent and seeking to use legal battles to overturn results in key states.

CNN reports that most recently, on Wednesday a handful of Pennsylvania Republicans joined Giuliani in holding a "hearing" in Gettysburg on regarding their allegations of voter fraud.

The judges also rejected the President's motion to undo Pennsylvania's certification of votes, CNN reports; the Keystone state on Tuesday certified its general election results, formally awarding President-elect Joe Biden 20 electoral votes.

"The Campaign's claims have no merit. The number of ballots it specifically challenges is far smaller than the roughly 81,000-vote margin of victory. And it never claims fraud or that any votes were cast by illegal voters. Plus, tossing out millions of mail-in ballots would be drastic and unprecedented, disenfranchising a huge swath of the electorate and upsetting all down-ballot races too. That remedy would be grossly disproportionate to the procedural challenges raised," the judges wrote.

After the decision, Biden campaign spokesperson Mike Gwin said, "this election is over and Donald Trump lost," adding that "meritless lawsuits" will not change the outcome.

More News

Desktop News

Click to open Continuous News in a sidebar that updates in real-time.
Radar
7 Days