Donald Trump's campaign on Sunday filed a petition for a writ of certiorari to the US Supreme Court, seeking to challenge an earlier decision made by the Pennsylvania Supreme Court "which illegally changed Pennsylvania’s mail balloting law immediately before and after the 2020 presidential election".
“This petition follows a related Pennsylvania case in which Justice Alito and two other justices observed ‘the constitutionality of the [Pennsylvania] Supreme Court’s decision [extending the statutory deadline for receipt of mail ballots from 8 pm on election day to 5 pm three days later] … has national importance, and there is a strong likelihood that the State Supreme Court decision violates the Federal Constitution", Trump's attorney Rudy Giuliani said in the campaign statement.
According to Giuliani, the court should discard the electoral votes given to Biden on 14 December and let the Pennsylvania General Assembly select their replacements.
"The Campaign also moved for expedited consideration, asking the Supreme Court to order responses by December 23 and a reply by December 24 to allow the US Supreme Court to rule before Congress meets on January 6 to consider the votes of the electoral college", the statement added.
Earlier in November, the Pennsylvania Supreme Court rejected a lawsuit filed by Republicans that sought to invalidate millions of mail-in ballots cast in the state.
BREAKING: Trump campaign files a petition for writ of certiorari to the US. Supreme Court to reverse a trio of Pennsylvania Supreme Court cases which illegally changed Pennsylvania’s mail balloting law immediately before and after the 2020 presidential election.
— Team Trump (Text TRUMP to 88022) (@TeamTrump) December 20, 2020
This is the latest development in Trump's legal struggle to challenge the outcome of both the popular and the electoral vote, as both have resulted in the victory of Joe Biden in the 2020 presidential race.
Trump, however, has refused to concede, continuing to claim "massive election fraud", even though all his previous lawsuits filed in other battleground states failed.
After the Electoral College voted Biden into the US presidency, confirming 306 votes to him and 232 to Trump, the results head to the US Congress, where they will be certified on 6 January at a joint session. While the majority of Republicans, including Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, have accepted the Electoral College results, some members of the GOP are thought to be planning a last ditch effort to dismiss the outcome.
The effort is led by Representative Mo Brooks and encouraged by Trump in numerous tweets. The outgoing president has recently voiced approval to Senator-elect Tommy Tuberville for mulling the possibility of supporting the initiative.
