The Trump campaign issued its first independent filing with the Supreme Court on Sunday, in hopes of reversing actions taken by Pennsylvania’s high court.
The campaign aims to reverse three Pennsylvania Supreme Court cases that changed the state’s mail balloting law immediately before and after this year’s election.
“This petition follows a related Pennsylvania case where Justice Alito and two other justices observed ‘the constitutionality of the [Pennsylvania] Supreme Court’s decision,” President Trump’s personal attorney Rudy Giuliani said in a statement, referring to extending the deadline of mail-in ballots from 8 p.m. on Election Day to 5 p.m. three days later.
Trump’s team claims there is a “strong likelihood” Pennsylvania’s high court violates the Constitution and says decisions by the Pennsylvania Legislature on mail-in ballots led to fraud.
Earlier this month, the Supreme Court rejected a GOP-led effort to overturn the election results over the same claims on Pennsylvania’s handling of mail-in ballots. The state of Texas also filed for the court to take up a similar case, but those efforts were also tossed out.
Giuliani alleges election officials were not allowed to check if signatures on ballots were genuine, blaming the Legislature for prohibiting campaigns from challenging mail-in ballots during canvassing for irregularities and not properly allowing observers to be close enough to poll workers to see how ballots were counted. Giuliani added that the Legislature eliminated statutory requirements that voters properly sign, address, and date mail-in ballots.
“The petition seeks all appropriate remedies, including vacating the appointment of electors committed to Joseph Biden and allowing the Pennsylvania General Assembly to select their replacements,” Giuliani said.
The campaign requested the Supreme Court order responses by Dec. 23 and reply by Dec. 24 to allow the court to issue a ruling ahead of Jan. 6 when Congress meets to count the Electoral College votes.
Trump has refused to concede to President-elect Joe Biden since he was first announced as the declared winner by media outlets a month ago. Biden’s win was secured by the Electoral College last week, granting him 306 votes compared to Trump’s 232. Trump’s team is planning to remain in litigation into 2021 up until Inauguration Day on Jan. 20.
