A group of Republican politicians sued Pennsylvania on Nov. 21 seeking to block the certification of the election results in the commonwealth by arguing that its vote-by-mail statute violates the state’s constitution.
The lawsuit argues that Act 77, a law that made voting by mail without an excuse legal in Pennsylvania, violates the Keystone State’s constitution.
The plaintiffs include Rep. Mike Kelly (R-Pa.), Republican congressional candidate Sean Parnell, and Pennsylvania House of Representatives candidate Wanda Logan.
Marc Elias, one of the top attorneys leading the Democrats’ post-election legal battles, called the lawsuit “frivolous.”
President Donald Trump responded to Elias, writing: “This is not at all frivolous. It is brought on behalf of one of the most respected members of the United States Congress who is disgusted, like so many others, by an Election that is a fraudulent mess. Fake ballots, dead people voting, no Republican Poll Watchers allowed, & more!”
The Republicans filed the suit not long before a federal judge dismissed a Trump campaign lawsuit in Pennsylvania. Some of the campaign’s arguments in that case revolved around voting by mail, including a claim that more than 682,000 mail ballots were processed without Republican observers present. Rudy Giuliani, the lead attorney on Trump’s election legal team, said the dismissal helped speed the suit along to the Supreme Court.
“Today’s decision turns out to help us in our strategy to get expeditiously to the U.S. Supreme Court,“ Giuliani said in a statement. ”Although we fully disagree with this opinion, we’re thankful to the Obama-appointed judge for making this anticipated decision quickly, rather than simply trying to run out the clock.”