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(Reuters) – A federal appeals court on Friday rejected an attempt by President Donald Trump’s campaign to prevent President-elect Joe Biden from being declared the winner of Pennsylvania, marking another significant setback for the attempt to win. Trump to annul the November 3 election.
“Free and fair elections are the lifeblood of our democracy. Accusations of injustice are serious. But calling an election unfair does not mean that it is,” Stephanos Bibas wrote on behalf of a three-judge panel.
“The charges require specific indictments and then evidence. We don’t have any here,” wrote Bibas, who was nominated by Trump.
The Trump campaign and its supporters have tried and failed to convince judges of the electoral irregularities in Michigan, Georgia, Arizona and Nevada, all critical of Biden’s victory.
“The voters, not the lawyers, choose the president. The ballots, not the writings, decide the elections,” said the opinion of the appeals court.
“Let’s go SCOTUS!” Jenna Ellis, a Trump campaign attorney, wrote on Twitter after the ruling, referring to a planned appeal to the US Supreme Court. “The activist judicial machine in Pennsylvania continues to cover up allegations of massive fraud.”
Pennsylvania certified Biden, who won the state by 80,000 votes, as its winner this week. Under Pennsylvania law, the candidate who wins the popular vote in the state gets all 20 electoral votes in the state.
Trump, a Republican, has refused to give in to his Democratic rival and continues to allege, without evidence, widespread electoral fraud.
But as his legal challenges to the results fail, Trump said Thursday that he will leave the White House if the Electoral College votes for Biden when it meets on Dec. 14, the closest he has come to granting the election.
On Monday, the Trump administration cleared the way for Biden to transition into the White House, giving him access to briefings and funding even as Trump vowed to continue fighting the election results.
Biden won elections 306-232 in electoral votes, including 20 from Pennsylvania. Even if Trump annulled the result in Pennsylvania, he would still have to reverse the result in at least two other states to remain president.
TIME IS RUNNING OUT
As Trump and his supporters continue to fight legal battles, time is running out as states have until Dec. 8 to resolve election disputes.
Legal experts have said the cases have no chance of success and may be aimed at undermining confidence in the elections. Polls have shown that a majority of Republicans believe Trump won the election and many believe the election was tainted, despite a lack of evidence.
Shortly after Friday’s ruling, Trump posted a Newsmax video on Twitter about suspected election fraud in Nevada.
The Trump campaign brought up the Pennsylvania case earlier this month, saying county election officials had handled mail ballots inconsistently and asking U.S. District Judge Matthew Brann to stop certifying the results. .
Some counties had allowed voters to fix minor deficiencies with their ballots, such as a missing “secret envelope,” while others had not.
Brann dismissed the case on November 21, saying the case was based on “strained legal arguments” and “speculative allegations.”
The Trump campaign said it appealed the “narrow” question of whether Brann improperly refused to allow it to amend the lawsuit a second time.
The campaign wants to add back the allegations it withdrew from the case, including a claim that his due process rights were violated.
The appeals court said many of Trump’s campaign claims are matters of Pennsylvania law, but noted that the campaign has already lost on those issues in state court.
“He never alleges that someone treated the Trump campaign or Trump’s votes worse than they treated the Biden campaign or Biden’s votes,” the opinion said. “The claims of the campaign have no merit.”
The other justices on the panel, Brooks Smith and Michael Chagares, were nominated by George W. Bush, a Republican.
(Reporting by Makini Brice in Washington, edited by Noeleen Walder and Alistair Bell)
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