southpaw Profile picture
17 Nov, 24 tweets, 4 min read
3,999 participants on the call as the Trump campaign hearing in the middle district of PA gets underway
The lawyers, including Giuliani, are mostly present in person. The judge is going through a roll call.

“Who are these other individuals in the back?” He just asked. “Presenting or just dropped by?”
Giuliani says he will be seeking leave to amend the complaint to restore the due process claims he says were mistakenly removed. So I guess @joshgerstein’s reading comprehension is okay after all.
“The best description of this situation is widespread, nationwide voter fraud,” Giuliani says after telling the court that it has to assume his claims (for which there is no evidence) are true on a MTD.

Unclear if we’ll get a discussion of plausibility under Twombly and Iqbal.
Giuliani is wrapping up a stemwinder to the court that is mostly indistinguishable from listening to him rant on his podcast. He has repeatedly conflated jurisdiction, standing, and an equal protection claim on the merits based on Bush v. Gore. What $20k/day buys you.
We lost the feed after the first half of a quite well-organized presentation from defendant’s counsel. He brought slides!

His arguments on standing alone seem sufficient for dismissal; there’s a bevy of directly on pt precedent that these vote dilution claims lack standing.
This is the sort of situation where it would’ve been nice to have a pool reporter in the room to tell us the rest of what happened.
Statement on the clerk’s website Image
During the break, Giuliani opens twitter. Image
So far as I am able to report to you: the court has not been able to resolve the conference line problem and I have not been able to work out why Rudy ‘world’s best paid lawyer’ Giuliani attempted to introduce exhibits in a MTD hearing
UPDATE: We have a new conference line. Image
It’s completely silent so far. But I’m encouraged nevertheless.
The court is now asking an AT&T rep if it can restart the proceeding. An American metaphor.
AT&T gave a green light and we are back on the record. Donovan picks up with his Equal Protection merits argument.
Donovan’s colleague is making a redressability argument through a painfully garbled virtual connection. In moments of clarity, some personal jabs at Giuliani come through—says Rudy hasn’t even read a relevant case.
Aronchik may be a making a great argument or he may not be. I honestly couldn’t say for sure. It’s a good lesson that if you’re going to give an extended talk remotely, you need to insist on and confirm that your audience has a crystal clear connection.
Giuliani is responding but I think his mic is off.
The questions the judge is asking Giuliani:
- how can your remedy of invalidating the votes of the entire Commonwealth be justified?
- why are you arguing claims that are not in your complaint?
- why didn’t you due the counties that you claim caused your clients injuries?
sue*
Judge: Does the campaign have direct or derivative injuries?

Trump lawyer:
Judge: what standard of review should I apply?

Rudy: the normal one.

Me:
The defendants are reasonably arguing that rational basis is the appropriate standard of review.
As to the merits, Giuliani keeps saying you can’t have different voting practices in different parts of the state. The problem for him is, for all of US history, you can. Even Bush v Gore says so. We’ll wait to see if the new 6-3 Supreme Court thinks that’s still the case.
The hearing ends with the judge, off the record now but still speaking on the public conference line, talking up the Williamsport restaurant scene to all the fancy lawyers.

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More from @nycsouthpaw

19 Nov
There are some uhh oddities to the Trump campaign's motion for leave to file a second amended complaint, incl:
- the clean version, filed as an exhibit, is the *first* amended complaint
- they--the plaintiffs--went ahead and signed the proposed order on behalf of the judge Image
Also no attorney signatures appear on the redline (comparing first and second). That's no big deal in itself, but since the plaintiffs didn't file a clean version of the second amended complaint, there's no indication which attorneys if any have signed the new complaint.
This is their second try at filing these documents tonight, btw.
Read 4 tweets
17 Nov
I predict a genuine struggle to get into the 4,000 person conf line for today’s hearing. The court should give someone permission to rebroadcast it.
Oh no! (h/t @benjaminwittes)
Read 6 tweets
16 Nov
The last tweet of the last remaining lawyer on the PA case.
The avi is amazing and I’m keeping a copy for posterity
Read 4 tweets
13 Nov
Public health experts are out here trying to get people to cancel their Thanksgivings ahead of a cresting wave of hospitalization and death, and the Speaker thinks it’s a good time to have an indoor banquet?
New members — just don’t attend. Even if it were entirely safe to spend hours in an enclosed space with people from around the country rn, which it’s not, there’s no way the photos coming out of this event are going to be anything but a giant albatross around your necks.
Read 4 tweets
12 Nov
If you’re not familiar with PACER, each court has a separate site with its own login and it’s a huge hassle.
... it also means the chances of *the system* filing something in the wrong jurisdiction are essentially zero. An attorney or paralegal having an extended brain fart could pull it off; but there’s like no conceivable technical glitch that would file your suit in the wrong court.
Read 4 tweets
12 Nov
Please do not slip back into bothsides coverage.
To recap, the D-controlled House *passed* two Covid relief bills; the R-controlled Senate hasn’t taken one up yet. The Trump White House repeatedly calls off negotiations with the House; when talks do go forward, the Senate refuses to attend.
The biggest apparent problem in the process is that the Republican leadership in the Senate does not have enough votes in its own conference to pass any relief bill and is unwilling to pass a bill (and potentially defeat its own members’ filibuster$ with Democratic votes.
Read 6 tweets

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