(WASHINGTON EXAMINER) — Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito changed a key deadline for Pennsylvania officials to respond to a lawsuit from Republicans seeking to flip the state election’s result from Joe Biden to President Trump.
On Sunday, Alito moved the deadline for Pennsylvania officials to respond from Wednesday, Dec. 9 at 4 p.m. to Tuesday, Dec. 8 at 9 a.m., the day of the state’s safe harbor deadline. The previous deadline meant that Congress could not change any of the electors set by the state after the date. This year, the Electoral College meets on Dec. 14 to cast its votes in the election, making the winner of the election the next president.
Republicans in Pennsylvania asked the Supreme Court to overturn the state’s 2019 law on mail-in voting, a legal endeavor spearheaded by GOP Rep. Mike Kelly and Trump ally Sean Parnell. They argue that a state statute known as Act 77 violates the state and federal Constitution by allowing for “no-excuse mail-in” votes on a large scale. The act allowed voters to cast their ballots by mail up to 50 days prior to an election without giving an excuse, which was previously required in order to receive an absentee ballot. More than 2.5 million Pennsylvania residents voted by mail last month, constituting over one-third of total ballots cast statewide.
