Thread by @ZoeTillman

Morning, here's where things stand on the legal front:
- Trump said early this a.m.: "We will be going to the US Supreme Court." Except in very rare circumstances that do not apply here, you cannot just "go" to SCOTUS.
buzzfeednews.com/article/kadiag…

- There are two pending cases in lower courts in PA. One is about voters with defective mail-in ballots in Montgomery County, Pa., who have been given a way to cure their votes. The judge is hearing arguments right now on a TRO motion.

https://twitter.com/ZoeTillman/status/1323642443212988416

- The other PA case was filed last night by state Republicans seeking to block counties from letting voters whose mail-in ballots were disqualified from casting provisional ballots. There's a status conference this afternoon.

https://twitter.com/ZoeTillman/status/1323821607966617605

- There is also the case already pending before SCOTUS challenging the extended deadline for accepting mail-in ballots in PA — the court allowed that later deadline to proceed by a 4-4 vote, and then rejected a request to reconsider before the election buzzfeednews.com/article/zoetil…

- What's important to remember about the one PA case that *is* before SCOTUS right now is that it only deals with ballots that arrive *after* Election Day, it doesn't deal with the counting of ballots that arrived by Election Day

- If Biden gets to 270 without PA, these cases lose their significance re: outcome. There are no pending cases in WI or MI (that could change of course). Trump tried to get the NV Supreme Court to intervene in Clark County last night, and the court said no

https://twitter.com/ZoeTillman/status/1323806597743857664

- Remember Trump/Republicans got what they wanted in Wisconsin when they last went to SCOTUS about voting practices there — the court blocked a lower court order that would have extended the deadline for accepting mail-in ballots buzzfeednews.com/article/zoetil…

Update on MontCo, Pa. — a county election official testifies it's been practice for years to notify voters whose ballots arrive w/ clear deficiencies and give them a chance to cure, and they've given info about set-aside ballots to both parties when asked, incl. GOP very recently

The hearing in the MontCo, PA, case re: handling of certain mail-in ballots is over — no ruling expected today, the plaintiffs are filing another brief by 9am tomorrow, and MontCo/Dem intervenors filing response by 9am Friday

It appears there are at least 93 ballots at issue here where voters were notified of a facial deficiency (i.e. issue with declaration on the envelope) and given a chance to cure before Election Day — a process that a county election official testified has been in place for years

At the end of the hearing, Judge Timothy Savage repeatedly asked the lawyer for the Rs who sued to explain how the notice/cure process at issue in MontCo ultimately jeopardized the "integrity of the election," and said that he wasn't getting that in what they'd presented