Post-Election Litigation Campaign: 62 Lawsuits Filed to Overturn the 2020 Election Results, Nearly All Dismissed
Tier 1Resolved2020-11-03 to 2021-01-06
Factual Summary
Following the November 3, 2020, presidential election, the Trump campaign, the Republican National Committee, and Trump allies filed 62 lawsuits in nine states and the District of Columbia challenging election processes, vote counting procedures, and the certification of results. Sixty-one of the 62 cases were dismissed by the courts or withdrawn by the plaintiffs. The single case that succeeded involved a minor procedural ruling in Pennsylvania that allowed some Republican observers to stand closer to ballot-counting tables, a result that did not affect any vote totals.
The lawsuits were filed in Arizona, Georgia, Michigan, Minnesota, Nevada, New Mexico, Pennsylvania, Wisconsin, and the District of Columbia. They alleged various forms of fraud, irregularity, and illegality, including claims that mail-in ballots were improperly counted, that election observers were denied access, that voting machines were manipulated, and that dead people had voted. Courts rejected these claims repeatedly and, in many cases, forcefully.
In Pennsylvania, which was the most heavily litigated state, the Trump campaign filed multiple suits. In one case, a Trump campaign attorney conceded in court that the campaign had a "non-zero number" of election observers present in Philadelphia, contradicting the campaign's public claims that observers had been entirely barred. Federal Judge Matthew Brann, a Republican and Federalist Society member appointed by President Obama, dismissed the Trump campaign's signature Pennsylvania case, writing: "This Court has been presented with strained legal arguments without merit and speculative accusations, unpled in the operative complaint and unsupported by evidence." The Third Circuit Court of Appeals upheld Brann's dismissal, with Judge Stephanos Bibas, a Trump appointee, writing: "Calling an election unfair does not make it so. Charges require specific allegations and then proof. We have neither here."
In Nevada, District Court Judge James T. Russell wrote that the plaintiffs "did not prove under any standard of proof that illegal votes were cast and counted, or legal votes were not counted at all, due to voter fraud." In Michigan, a state court judge rejected claims of fraud in Wayne County, noting that the affidavits presented by the Trump campaign were "not credible." In Wisconsin, the state Supreme Court rejected the campaign's challenge to the results on procedural grounds.
The Supreme Court declined to hear two cases seeking to overturn election results. In December 2020, the Court rejected a lawsuit filed by the State of Texas, supported by 17 other Republican-led states and 126 Republican members of Congress, which sought to invalidate the results in Georgia, Michigan, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin.
Judges appointed by presidents of both parties, including several Trump appointees, rejected the claims. PolitiFact documented that more than 60 of Trump's election lawsuits lacked merit. The Campaign Legal Center compiled a comprehensive database of the litigation outcomes, confirming the near-universal failure of the legal challenges.
The litigation campaign was accompanied by a public relations effort in which Trump and his allies, including attorneys Rudy Giuliani and Sidney Powell, held press conferences making allegations of fraud that they did not substantiate in their court filings. Giuliani and Powell were subsequently sanctioned or faced professional discipline for their conduct. Giuliani was disbarred in New York and Washington, D.C. Powell pleaded guilty to misdemeanor charges in Georgia related to her role in election interference efforts.
Primary Sources
1. Campaign Legal Center: "Results of Lawsuits Regarding the 2020 Elections," comprehensive database of 62 lawsuits and their outcomes
2. Donald J. Trump for President, Inc. v. Boockvar, No. 4:20-cv-02078 (M.D. Pa.), dismissal by Judge Brann, November 21, 2020
3. Third Circuit Court of Appeals affirmance, with opinion by Judge Bibas (Trump appointee)
4. Texas v. Pennsylvania, No. 22O155 (U.S. Supreme Court), application denied December 11, 2020
5. Nevada state court dismissal, Judge James T. Russell
Corroborating Sources
1. PolitiFact: "Joe Biden is right that more than 60 of Trump's election lawsuits lacked merit," January 8, 2021
2. Brookings Institution: "Trump's judicial campaign to upend the 2020 election: A failure, but not a wipe-out," 2021
3. Just Security: "Keeping Count: Major Adverse Legal Findings Against Donald Trump (Nov. 2020-2024)"
4. Duke Law, Judicature: "2020 Election Litigation: The Courts Held," 2021
5. WITF: "These Republicans did a deep dive into 2020 election lawsuits, including in Pa. Here's why most of them failed," September 2022
Counterarguments and Context
Trump and his supporters argued that the lawsuits were legitimate legal challenges filed in good faith to address genuine concerns about election integrity, including the rapid expansion of mail-in voting during the COVID-19 pandemic. They contended that many cases were dismissed on procedural grounds, such as standing or laches, rather than on the merits of the fraud allegations. It is true that some cases were dismissed on procedural grounds. However, as PolitiFact documented, many other cases were dismissed after courts considered the evidence and found it insufficient. Judge Brann's ruling in Pennsylvania explicitly addressed the merits and found the claims unsupported. Judge Bibas's appellate opinion stated directly that the campaign had presented neither "specific allegations" nor "proof." The near-universal rejection of 62 lawsuits across multiple states, by judges appointed by presidents of both parties including Trump himself, represents one of the most comprehensive judicial repudiations of a litigant's claims in American legal history. The litigation campaign also had real-world consequences beyond the courtroom, as Trump's repeated claims of a "stolen election" contributed to the events of January 6, 2021.
Author's Note
This entry is classified as Tier 1 because every lawsuit was adjudicated through the court system, and the outcomes are matters of public record. The courts did not merely decline to hear the claims; in case after case, judges issued written opinions explaining why the evidence was insufficient and the legal theories were unfounded. The comprehensive failure of 61 out of 62 lawsuits is itself a documented legal finding about the validity of the claims underlying Trump's assertion that the 2020 election was stolen.