Pennsylvania Slams Judge’s ‘Overreach’ in Certification Ruling

  • Pittsburgh judge ordered a halt to certifying Biden’s victory
  • State says Republican judge trying to interfere in election

Workers count ballots in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, on Nov. 3.

Photographer: Hannah Yoon/Bloomberg
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Pennsylvania Governor Tom Wolf and other state officials assailed a Pittsburgh judge for issuing what they described as an unprecedented order halting additional steps in the certification of President-elect Joe Biden’s election victory.

“Since the birth of our nation nearly 250 years ago, no court has ever issued an order purporting to interfere with a state’s ascertainment of its presidential electors -- until today,” state officials said in an appeal filed shortly after Commonwealth Court Judge Patricia McCullough’s Wednesday ruling in a lawsuit brought by Pennsylvania Republicans. “There is no conceivable justification for the lower court’s issuance of such an order in this case.”