Trump Makes Big Move, Files First Petition with Supreme Court Over the Election
The Trump campaign made its move on Sunday and filed a petition for a writ of certiorari with the United States Supreme Court seeking over the Pennsylvania election.
Rudy Giuliani said in a statement: “The Campaign’s petition seeks to reverse three decisions which eviscerated the Pennsylvania Legislature’s protections against mail ballot fraud, including:
“(A) prohibiting election officials checking whether signatures on mail ballots are genuine during canvassing on Election Day, (b) eliminating the right of campaigns to challenge mail ballots during canvassing for forged signatures and other irregularities, (c) holding that the rights of campaigns to observe the canvassing of mail ballots only meant that they only were allowed to be ‘in the room’ – in this case, the Philadelphia Convention Center – the size of several football fields, and (d) eliminating the statutory requirements that voters properly sign, address, and date mail ballots.”
The petition states:
“Article II of the Constitution provides that “Each State shall appoint [electors for President and Vice President] in such Manner as the Legislature thereof may direct.” U.S. Const. art. II, § 1, cl. 2 (emphasis added).
“That power is “plenary,” and the statutory provisions enacted by the legislature in the furtherance of that constitutionally-assigned duty may not be ignored by state election officials or changed by state courts. Bush v. Gore (“Bush II”), 531 U.S. 98, 104-05 (2000).
“Yet, during the 2020 presidential election, that is what the Pennsylvania Supreme Court did in four cases – three at issue in this Petition, and one already before the Court. Statutory requirements were eliminated regarding signature verification, the right of campaigns to challenge invalid mail ballots, mandates that mail voters fill in, date, and sign mail ballot declarations, and even the right of campaigns to observe the mail ballot canvassing process in a meaningful way.
“Collectively, these three decisions resulted in counting approximately 2.6 million mail ballots in violation of the law as enacted by the Pennsylvania Legislature. According to public reports, without these protections, the resulting disqualification rate of invalid ballots was anemic—meaning over 110,000 invalid ballots were illegally counted—more than enough to have affected the outcome of the election, where the margin between the two principal candidates for President currently stands at 80,558.”
From Townhall:
According to the petition, the Pennsylvania Supreme Court illegally changed the state’s voting by-mail laws by extending the deadline ballots could be received and counted. The only way that can legally be changed is for the state legislature to pass legislation extending the deadline, something the Pennsylvania legislature failed to do. Instead, Secretary of State Kathy Boockvar extended the deadline three days later.
The Trump campaign also took issue with ballot counting and challenges that took place during the count. They claim Republican challengers who were allowed to be in the room had to be six feet away, which made it impossible for them to adequately validate each ballot being counted.
President Donald Trump’s personal attorney, Rudy Giuliani, contends that the cases are a direct “violation of Article II of the United States Constitution and Bush v. Gore.” Giuliani believes the Pennsylvania Supreme Court’s decision is a clear violation of the United States Constitution. Because of the State Supreme Court’s decision, the campaign alleges more than 100,000 vote-by-mail ballots were illegally counted, which means there were “more than enough to have affected the outcome of the election, where the margin between the two principal candidates for President current stands at 80,558,” the lawsuit states.