PHILADELPHIA (KYW Newsradio) — A federal judge ruled Saturday that Pennsylvania officials can certify election results showing Joe Biden winning the state, dismissing a Trump campaign suit that sought to "discard millions of votes legally cast by Pennsylvanians from all corners."
U.S. Middle District Judge Matthew Brann turned back the complaint, granting state officials' motions to dismiss the Trump campaign complaint with prejudice, meaning the suit cannot be re-filed.
The Trump campaign said it will be seeking an "expedited appeal" to the Third Circuit Court of Appeals. "Today's decision turns out to help us in our strategy to get expeditiously to the U.S. Supreme Court," the campaign's attorneys said in a statement.
In his opinion, Brann wrote, "this Court has been presented with strained legal arguments without merit and speculative accusations, unpled in the operative complaint and unsupported by evidence."
"In the United States of America, this cannot justify the disenfranchisement of a single voter, let alone all the voters of its sixth most populous state," Brann wrote.
Read the Judge's Opinion:
This comes shortly after Republican U.S. Rep. Mike Kelly filed a similar suit in Commonwealth Court challenging the state's use of mail-in ballots.
Attorney General Josh Shapiro tweeted of the state complaint, "The candidates (and) elected officials who joined this suit should be ashamed of themselves," calling it "another weak attempt to subvert the will of the people."
Pennsylvania Secretary of State Kathy Boockvar, the named defendant in the federal complaint, argued Trump had previously raised similar claims to no avail, and told Brann the option Trump's campaign sought, to toss millions of votes, was too extreme, especially after most had been tallied.
"There is no justification on any level for the radical disenfranchisement they seek," wrote Boockvar’s lawyers in a brief filed Thursday.
Counties must certify their results to Boockvar by Monday, before she makes her own certification.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
The full opinion can be found here.
LISTEN NOW on the RADIO.COM App
Follow RADIO.COM
Facebook | Twitter | Instagram