Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito changed a key deadline for Pennsylvania officials to respond to a lawsuit from Republicans seeking to flip the state election’s result from Joe Biden to President Trump.
On Sunday, Alito moved the deadline for Pennsylvania officials to respond from Wednesday, Dec. 9 at 4 p.m. to Tuesday, Dec. 8 at 9 a.m., the day of the state’s safe harbor deadline. The previous deadline meant that Congress could not change any of the electors set by the state after the date. This year, the Electoral College meets on Dec. 14 to cast its votes in the election, making the winner of the election the next president.
Republicans in Pennsylvania asked the Supreme Court to overturn the state’s 2019 law on mail-in voting, a legal endeavor spearheaded by GOP Rep. Mike Kelly and Trump ally Sean Parnell. They argue that a state statute known as Act 77 violates the state and federal Constitution by allowing for “no-excuse mail-in” votes on a large scale. The act allowed voters to cast their ballots by mail up to 50 days prior to an election without giving an excuse, which was previously required in order to receive an absentee ballot. More than 2.5 million Pennsylvania residents voted by mail last month, constituting over one-third of total ballots cast statewide.
The state’s Supreme Court shot down the lawsuit, prompting Republican officials to make an appeal to the Supreme Court. Greg Teufel, an attorney for the plaintiffs, told the Washington Examiner last week that the Pennsylvania high court “slammed the courthouse door shut before the election” and has now “slammed the courthouse door shut after the election.”
Texas Sen. Ted Cruz urged the Supreme Court to hear Kelly’s lawsuit, saying the case “raises serious legal issues.”
“This appeal argues that Pennsylvania cannot change the rules in the middle of the game. If Pennsylvania wants to change how voting occurs, the state must follow the law to do so,” Cruz said. The Republican senator also said the justices on Pennsylvania’s Supreme Court made a decision that “reflect their political and ideological biases.”
“Just over a month ago, Justice Alito, along with Justice Thomas and Justice Gorsuch, wrote — correctly, I believe — concerning the Pennsylvania court’s previous decision to count ballots received after Election Day, that ‘there is a strong likelihood that the State Supreme Court decision violates the Federal Constitution,” Cruz continued.
