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PHILADELPHIA (AP) – Republicans suffered setbacks in court challenges in the presidential election in three battlefield states on Friday, as a law firm that has been criticized for its work for the president’s campaign Donald Trump has pulled out of a major case in Pennsylvania.
The legal wounds began when a federal appeals court rejected an effort to block an estimated 9,300 mail-in ballots arriving after election day in Pennsylvania. The judges noted the “vast disruption” and “unprecedented challenges” the country faces during the COVID-19 pandemic as they upheld the three-day extension.
US Circuit Chief Justice D. Brooks Smith said the panel kept in mind “an indisputable proposition in our democratic process: that the legally cast vote of every citizen must count.”
The ruling involves a decision by the Pennsylvania Supreme Court to accept ballots in the mail until Friday, November 6, citing the pandemic and concerns about postal service delays.
Republicans have also asked the United States Supreme Court to consider the matter. However, there aren’t enough late ballots to alter the results in Pennsylvania, given President-elect Joe Biden’s lead. The former Democratic vice president won the state by about 60,000 votes out of about 6.8 million votes.
The Trump campaign or Republican surrogates have filed more than 15 court challenges in Pennsylvania as they sought to reclaim the state’s 20 electoral votes, but have so far provided no evidence of widespread electoral fraud.
A Philadelphia judge could not find any, because he refused Friday night to reject about 8,300 mail-in ballots. The campaign pursued similar disputes in other battlefield states, with little evidence.
In Michigan, a judge on Friday refused to stop the certification of election results in the Detroit area, dismissing claims the city had committed fraud and tainted the tally with its handling of mail-in ballots. This is the third time a judge has refused to intervene in a statewide tally that shows Biden of more than 140,000 votes.
And, in Arizona, campaign lawyers sought to withdraw their efforts to request a manual inspection of ballots in the Phoenix subway, as it became clear that the number of ballots in question could not change the outcome of the ballot. presidential race. In the file, Trump’s attorney Kory Langhofer alluded to updated election results that show Democrat Joe Biden ahead by more than 11,000 votes, with around 10,000 ballots to count.
Meanwhile, legal giant Porter Wright Morris & Arthur, who had been criticized for his work for the Trump campaign, withdrew from a lawsuit aimed at preventing Pennsylvania officials from certifying election results.
Porter Wright tabled the motion on Thursday, as criticism grew that law firms supporting Republican election challenges were helping Trump defy the will of the American people.
Porter Wright, who made more than $ 700,000 from the Trump campaign, appeared to delete his Twitter feed on Tuesday after being inundated with attacks. The payments include more than $ 140,000 paid through a Republican National Committee account for “recount” challenges, according to Federal Election Commission records.
The company did not respond to specific questions about the posts or whether it would cease to fully represent the Trump campaign. In a statement earlier this week, the cabinet said it had a long history of handling electoral law cases for various parties.
“Sometimes that forces us to take controversial cases. We expect criticism in such cases, and we assert the right of all individuals to voice concerns and disagreements, ”the Ohio-based company said.
The U.S. appeals court, on Friday dismissing the injunction request, said it was not ruling on the wisdom of the three-day extension or the power of the state court to grant it. Instead, the court found that plaintiffs had no right to challenge ballots cast by conscientious voters trying to follow the rules in a chaotic year.
“The COVID-19 pandemic … has caused immense loss and widespread disruption,” Smith wrote for the three-judge panel, which concluded that posted voters may be disadvantaged by the process, and not unfairly privileged.
“While in-person ballots that are cast in a timely manner will count, ballots in the timely mail may not count because, given mail delivery rates, they may not be received until. 5:00 p.m. Nov. 6, “Smith said.
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Scolforo reported from Harrisburg. Associated Press editors Ed White in Detroit and Jacques Billeaud in Phoenix contributed to this report
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