Pennsylvania Judge Issues Stinging Opinion In Dismissal Of Trump Election Lawsuit

U.S. District Judge Matthew Brann delivered a scornful opinion in his dismissal of a lawsuit that Rudy Giuliani, Donald Trump’s personal lawyer, argued in court last week. Trump’s team demanded the disenfranchisement of 7 million Pennsylvania votes, but were instead met with a 37-page opinion which argued that, “This Court has been presented with strained legal arguments without merit and speculative accusations, unpled in the operative complaint and unsupported by evidence.” Brann added, “In the United States of America, this cannot justify the disenfranchisement of a single voter, let alone all the voters of its sixth most populated state. Our people, laws, and institutions demand more.”

This ruling is the most recent rejection of Trump’s relentless effort to overturn President-elect Joe Biden’s victory and comes as a huge blow to Giuliani, who Trump just recently put in charge of the election lawsuits.

Brann also dismissed the Trump campaign’s argument that its observers were unfairly denied access to view the vote-counting process in certain Pennsylvania counties, noting that both Trump and Biden’s spectators were subject to the same restrictions.

In response to the decision, Sen. Pat Toomey (R-Pennsylvania) said that Biden has won Pennsylvania and the presidential election. “With today’s decision by Judge Matthew Brann, a longtime conservative Republican whom I know to be a fair and unbiased jurist, to dismiss the Trump campaign’s lawsuit, President Trump has exhausted all plausible legal options to challenge the result of the presidential race in Pennsylvania,” Toomey stated.

Trump later attacked both Brann and Toomey via Twitter, adding, “WILL APPEAL!”

But with such a swift and scathing opinion, the likelihood of the decision being overturned is incredibly slim. And Trump’s overall chances at securing a second term are dwindling. Pennsylvania counties are due on Monday to certify their votes, leaving the final certification in the hands of Secretary of State Kathy Boockvar (D), a defendant in the lawsuit.

Trump’s swing state allies are not coming to the president’s defense either. Michigan state lawmakers insisted that they would not intervene in their state’s election process to help Trump. Georgia’s Republican governor and secretary of state certified Biden’s victory on Friday, and a Republican-controlled board in Arizona’s largest county certified its results Friday evening.

Article by Charlotte Ruhl