Trump Camp Loses Appeal on Election Disputes in Pennsylvania

By Mary Anne R. First Posted: Nov 27, 2020 10:31 PM EST

A federal appeals court threw out a lawsuit filed by the Trump campaign over Pennsylvania's voting procedures on Friday.

A Fox News report said this clear the way for the issue to escalate up to the Supreme Court.

The 3rd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals said that the campaign's lawsuit claims "have no merit."

This was despite Rudy Giuliani, lawyer of President Donald Trump, arguments to a lower court that there was a rampant voter fraud that occurred in the state and tipped the outcome of the election.

Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden won by more than 80,000 votes in the state. The Trump campaign can now opt to ask the U.S. Supreme Court for emergency injunctive relief.

The case would then go to Justice Samuel Alito, who would likely ask his eight colleagues to weigh in the case, as Fox News reported.

Jenna Ellis, Trump's attorney and campaign adviser, said the judiciary system in Pennsylvania continues to cover up widespread fraud allegations.

"We are very thankful to have had the opportunity to present proof and the facts to the PA state legislature," Ellis tweeted.

"On to SCOTUS!," she added, referring to the U.S. Supreme Court.

Friday's ruling has maintained U.S. District Judge Matthew Brann's decision on the Trump campaign's complaint.

Brann said the campaign team failed to present factual proof of rampant corruption, adding that the complaint was "like Frankenstein's Monster, has been haphazardly stitched together."

The Trump campaign, in its appeal to the 3rd Circuit, did not request that Brann's ruling be turned the other way around. Instead, the campaign's lawyers asked that it be allowed to submit an amended version of its legal complaint to "restore claims which were inadvertently deleted" from a previous version.

But even that appeal was dismissed by the appeals court, as per the CNBC report. In his ruling, Judge Stephanos Bibas, a former law school professor, said that free and fair elections are the lifeblood of the country's democracy, adding that unfairness claims are serious.

Bibas, however, noted that calling an election unfair does not make it so as charges require proof. Bibas concluded that with the Trump campaign's lawsuit, they neither had compelling legal arguments and proof.

The appeals court's decision is another blow to the Trump camp's efforts to prove the election outcome in some battleground states was "rigged." Trump has already lost in several key swing states.

Giuliani's Claims

Giuliani conducted a public hearing with Trump on Wednesday, claiming that Republicans were not given a chance to observe the canvassing process.

Trump claimed that they have several affidavits of witnesses' personal anecdotes to support their allegations. But the said statements have not been presented during several court hearings.

Aside from Pennsylvania, the Trump campaign has also filed numerous lawsuits in several key swing states such as Michigan, Wisconsin, Nevada, Arizona, and Georgia.

Missing USB Cards

Meanwhile, a U.S. Navy veteran and data scientist from Pennsylvania recently claimed that 47 USB cards used during the presidential election have gone missing.

Veteran and poll watcher Gregory Stenstrom of Delaware County noted that as many as 120,000 votes cast in the election should be questioned.

Stenstrom said he observed USB cards being uploaded to voting machines by the voting machine warehouse supervisor on multiple occasions, according to a Fox News report.

He noted that this person was not being observed and not part of the process. Stenstrom added that this person was "walking in" with bags of USBs.