Trump's Appeal Rejected As PA Certification Deadline Looms

PENNSYLVANIA — President Donald Trump's legal team suffered another blow on Monday, as their appeal of a federal judge's dismissal of their elections lawsuit was rejected.

U.S. 3rd Circuit Court of Appeals Judge Stephanos Bibas said in a court filing Monday afternoon that the appeal was "summarily dismissed for lack of standing, as there is no injury-in-fact."

Another emergency motion was then swiftly filed, asking for a judge to place a restraining order on the certification of election results while another appeal is pending.

The complex jumble of legal filings comes after a federal judge originally threw the lawsuit out on Saturday. The Trump campaign filed their first appeal of that decision just a day later, on Sunday, even as the suit's dim chances appeared to darken further.

"Let me be clear — the will of the people will not be thwarted," Pennsylvania Attorney General Josh Shapiro said on Twitter, calling the Trump team's attempts to stop the certification of election results in Pennsylvania "baseless."

The deadline for counties to certify the results of the election in Pennsylvania is Monday, Nov. 23. "The Department of State continues to work closely with and support all 67 counties as they work to complete the election certification process," department spokeswoman Wanda Murren said in an email to Patch.

A federal judge brusquely dismissed Trump's case on Saturday, calling it an attempt to disenfranchise voters. "Our people, laws, and institutions demand more," wrote U.S. District Court Judge Matthew Brann in his ruling.

Trump's motion Sunday was made to the 3rd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Philadelphia, and could represent the last gasp for the suit, even as members of his legal team say they're angling to get the case before the conservative-majority U.S. Supreme Court. It's one of numerous lawsuits filed by the president still floating around the country, as he attempts to overturn his election defeat to President-elect Joe Biden.

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The suit alleges Pennsylvania broke the law in its conduction of the 2020 election by running a "two-tiered" voter system in which voters in Democratic counties were held to different standards than voters in Republican counties. It includes allegations of fraud related to mail-in voting, which are not supported by evidence.

Brann's decision to dismiss the suit Saturday came after a chaotic two weeks of legal filings related to the case, during which nearly the entire Trump legal team turned over. Trump lawyer Rudy Giuliani took over the case just hours before the first hearing. He remains lead counsel heading into the appeals process in U.S. Circuit Court.

Trump's refusal to concede the election has been met with condemnation from both sides of the aisle, including Pennsylvania's U.S. Sen. Pat Toomey.

"President Trump has exhausted all plausible legal options to challenge the result of the presidential race in Pennsylvania," Toomey said, noting he was "deeply disappointed" Trump had lost the election but that it was time to work with Biden.

Biden won Pennsylvania by around 80,000 votes over Trump in 2020 en route to his general election victory.

With reporting by Kara Seymour