Keystone Today

The U.S. Supreme Court denied a petition to hear an elections case from Pennsylvania Tuesday night.

“The application for injunctive relief presented to Justice (Samuel) Alito and by him referred to the Court is denied,” the order in the case states. 

House Rep. Mike Kelly (R-Butler) had submitted the final briefing request to the U.S. Supreme Court less than an hour before it was denied.

Kelly’s case involved mail-in ballots. He argued that the absentee ballot system in the state violated the Pennsylvania Constitution. He alleged the statute, Act 77, was illegally implemented in 2019. He called it one more attempt to override mail-in voting limitations in the commonwealth’s constitution. 

The denial by Alito is the first time the U.S. Supreme Court has ruled on a lawsuit seeking to overturn election results from the 2020 General Election.

Richard L. Hasen, an election law expert, called the case flawed.

“Anyone who thought that the Supreme Court was going to save Trump in THIS case has no experience with Supreme Court arguments or election law,” Hasen wrote, according to Slate.

Alito had previously taken up the case, set a briefing schedule in it and referred it to the court for review. It, so far, has been the only lawsuit attempting to overturn the election to make it that far.

The order came just a few hours before the midnight “safe harbor” deadline that provides states some immunity from congressional oversight into election results for timely certification of elections.