Donald Trump Campaign Appeals Judge's Dismissal of Pennsylvania Election Challenge

A Pennsylvania judge dismissed the Trump campaign's legal challenge to the 2020 presidential election results on Saturday, and on Sunday, the Trump campaign filed an appeal. The president's team is relentlessly pursuing its case against Pennsylvania's election results, in spite of the fact that it has provided no substantial evidence in the case. The appeal was submitted by a team of campaign lawyers led by Rudy Giuliani.

Judge Matthew Brann of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 3rd Circuit was harsh in his dismissal of the Trump campaign's case, according to a report by The Hill. Brann ordered that the state of Pennsylvania should be allowed to move forward with the certification of its election results, and dismissed the campaign's lawsuit on the basis that it had no evidence. He wrote that the campaign was making "strained legal arguments without merit and speculative accusations" that were "unsupported by evidence."

....WILL APPEAL!

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) November 22, 2020

"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," Brann added.

President Donald Trump responded to Brann's order late on Saturday night, announcing a few hours ahead of time that an appeal was coming. He tweeted: "It's all a continuation of the never ending Witch Hunt. Judge Brann, who would not even allow us to present our case or evidence, is a product of Senator Pat 'No Tariffs' Toomey of Pennsylvania, no friend of mine, & Obama - No wonder."

Trump followed this up with another tweet reading "....WILL APPEAL!" which drew mockery on social media. Trump's claims about voter fraud and election tampering have so far come with no credible evidence whatsoever, and his campaign has not been able to prove that they have anything more coming. These ideas have now been relegated to the status of conspiracy theories, and more and more pundits are growing concerned about how their spread will impact faith in American democracy in the long term.

The president's critics are now putting the pressure on Emily Murphy, head of the General Services Administration, whose job it is to ascertain the results of the election and release funds for the transition process to the teams of Trump and President-elect Joe Biden. So far, Murphy has stalled making this move, in spite of Biden's clear and overwhelming victory. Four House Democrats sent Murphy an open letter on Thursday imploring her to move forward.

"White House officials claim they are not pressing you to block the ascertainment determination and that you have made this determination entirely on your own," it read. "If this is accurate, it is critical that you now follow the law and make the ascertainment designation without any further delay."