BREAKING: Pennsylvania has certified the results of the November election. Joe Biden officially wins the state and its 20 electoral votes.
Of the states President Trump is contesting in court, Georgia, Michigan and Pennsylvania have certified and sent Biden electors to the Electoral College on Dec. 14 -- putting him at 279 electoral votes. Arizona, Nevada and Wisconsin have not yet finished certification.
The president continues to contest the results in all six of those states, but certification of the vote makes an already-uphill climb in the courts much more difficult; federal courts tend to defer to states in how they run their elections.
A federal judge in Pennsylvania just dismissed the Trump campaign’s lawsuit with prejudice — meaning it can’t be refiled — and tore into their claims: “This court has been presented with strained legal arguments without merit ... Our people, laws and institutions demand more.”
We have a Frankenstein’s Monster reference in this opinion.
Here’s the meat of the decision. The Trump campaign asked the court to overturn the election and effectively disenfranchise ~7 million people: “It is not in the power of this court to violate the Constitution.”
The new dashboard shows 725 new cases (was 1,139 yesterday) and a gigantic 51,419 new tests. The seven-day weighted average of the positive rate is at 1.8 percent.
BREAKING: Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court rules any individual who is not being held without bail, and who has not been charged with a "violent or serious offense," shall be released from jail. #WBZ
As for inmates serving sentences, the SJC says it does not have the authority to order them released, but is urging the Department of Corrections and the parole board to work with the special master to expedite parole hearings. #WBZ#coronavirus
The SJC ruling on the release of jailed defendants in Massachusetts does NOT apply to people charged with the below offenses. There are a lot of them. #WBZ