APABA-PA Celebrates Historic Inauguration and Denounces Egregious Events Leading Up to Transition of Power

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The Asian Pacific American Bar Association of Pennsylvania (APABA-PA) congratulates President Joseph R. Biden, Jr. and Vice President Kamala D. Harris on their inauguration on January 20, 2021. We celebrate the historical significance of the first Black, Asian American, and female Vice President. While we recognize the excitement and hope of this moment, we must also highlight the egregious events leading up to this transition of power.

We condemn the violent attack on the United States Capitol on January 6, 2021, which was a blatant and criminal attempt to disrupt the certification of the election of President Biden and Vice President Harris. This assault on our democratic process did not occur in a vacuum. For months prior to the November 3, 2020 election, former President Trump and his allies spearheaded an effort to sow doubt in the outcome of the election in Pennsylvania and nationwide. Pennsylvania courts were flooded with lawsuits over the legality of mail ballot drop boxes, deadlines, and satellite elections offices.[1] Lawsuits during and after Election Day nationwide primarily targeted ballots in cities with large Black populations, including Philadelphia, in an attempt to disenfranchise the voters credited with handing President Biden and Vice President Harris their victory.[2]

In Pennsylvania, allegations of fraud and illegal activity in the 2020 election have been thoroughly reviewed and repeatedly dismissed by the courts. [3] Indeed, Judge Brann of the United States District Court for the Middle District of Pennsylvania, a longtime conservative Republican,[4] unequivocally stated that the Trump administration’s lawsuit seeking to discard millions of votes legally cast across the state contained “strained legal arguments without merit and speculative accusations, unpled in the operative complaint and unsupported by evidence.”[5]

Despite overwhelming evidence that Pennsylvania had a “secure election, with extraordinary transparency at every stage,”[6] more than 60 Republican lawmakers in Harrisburg disavowed the election results and called on members of Congress to object during the counting of the electoral votes.[7] On the date of certification, January 6, 2021, then President Trump urged his supporters to go to the Capitol and stop the certification of the election results, leading to hours of violence and chaos culminating in the deaths of at least four individuals and causing injuries to at least 50 police officers.[8] After the violence erupted, eight members of the Pennsylvania delegation, aware that the Trump administration had “exhausted all plausible legal options to challenge the result of the presidential race in Pennsylvania,”[9] still objected to the certification of Pennsylvania’s electoral votes.[10]

This baseless misinformation campaign incited violence at the Capitol and continued to threaten the peaceful transition of power on Inauguration Day. Indeed, the Federal Bureau of Investigation urged police chiefs across the country to be on high alert for potential attacks on state capitols and federal buildings, as the deadly breach at the Capitol would be a “significant driver of violence” for armed militia groups and racist extremists who were targeting the presidential inauguration.[11]

Anyone who terrorizes our elected representatives and utilizes violence to impede the peaceful transition of power must be held accountable. Our electoral system worked, and all claims of irregularities were openly investigated, carefully considered by the courts—including the United States Supreme Court—and soundly rejected. As lawyers, we are bound by the duty to advocate for racial, social, and economic justice, democracy, and the rule of law. APABA-PA calls on all Pennsylvania lawmakers to publicly acknowledge that the 2020 election was lawful and legitimate. We further urge all Pennsylvanians to halt the dissemination of misinformation about unfounded claims of voter fraud. We must all remain vigilant and take responsibility for the preservation of our democracy.

Richard T. Ting,

2021 APABA-PA President

[email protected]