Washington: In a fresh setback to US President Donald Trump’s efforts to reverse the presidential election result in Pennsylvania, a federal appeals court has dismissed a lawsuit filed by his team, observing that “voters, not lawyers choose the president”.
The three-judge panel of the 3rd US Circuit Court of Appeals on Friday upheld a previous ruling that dismissed the Trump campaign’s request for an injunction in the case in Pennsylvania to challenge the election results and slammed the lawsuit.
“Free, fair elections are the lifeblood of our democracy,” said Judge Stephanos Bibas in his order, which comes four days after Pennsylvania certified Trump’s Democratic rival, Joe Biden, as the winner in the state.
“Charges of unfairness are serious. But calling an election unfair does not make it so. Charges require specific allegations and then proof. We have neither here,” said Bibas, who was appointed by Trump.
“The campaign cannot win this lawsuit,” he said.
Bibas authored the order along with two other judges on the bench, Chief Circuit Judge Brooks Smith and Judge Michael Chagares, who were appointed by former Republican president George W Bush.
Trump has refused to concede the November 3 election to Biden and has filed multiple lawsuits challenging the poll results in several states.
Former vice president Biden was declared the winner of the US presidential election on November 7 after flipping Pennsylvania, Michigan and Wisconsin to the Democrats’ column.
Biden has 306 electoral votes to Trump’s 232 votes. To win the race to the White House, the successful candidate should have at least 270 electoral votes out of the 538-member Electoral College.
