On July 27, U.S. District Court Judge Philip M. Halpern, a Trump appointee, refused to give injunctive relief to an independent congressional candidate and an independent state senate candidate. Eisen v Cuomo, s.d., 7:20cv-5121. Here is the one-page order. It does not explain why the judge declined to lower the petition requirements. Governor Cuomo had already reduced the number for U.S. House from 3,500 to 2,450.

On July 28, the Third Circuit refused any ballot access relief for minor party and independent candidates. Libertarian Party of Pennsylvania v Governor, 20-2481. The order is only two pages and does not mention any precedents from other courts or other states. It says the statewide petition was already reduced “by more than 90%” in a 2018 lawsuit, Constitution Party of Pennsylvania v Aichele. That is an untrue statement. The Constitution Party court order only reduced the statewide petitions, not the district petitions, and it went from 20,601 signatures for 2012, and 16,625 signatures for 2014, to 5,000 for elections starting in 2016. Furthermore the Constitution Party lawsuit was in 2016, not 2018.

The decision’s author is not indicated, but the order is signed by Judge Thomas Ambro (a Clinton appointee), Patty Shwartz (Obama), and Stephanos Bibas (Trump). As a result, it is extremely unlikely that any statewide Pennsylvania petition will succeed this year, except that the Libertarian statewide petition will probably qualify. There is an outside chance that Kanye West may be petitioning in Pennsylvania. He seems to have the financial resources to compete a 5,000-signature petition at the last minute. The petitions are due August 3, Monday.