(CNN) President Donald Trump's plan to sue Pennsylvania in federal court to determine how the state conducts mail-in voting has been effectively shut down by a US district court judge. The judge, Nicholas Ranjan of the US District Court in the Western District of Pennsylvania, decided Sunday that Trump's federal lawsuit against the Secretary of the Commonwealth over the use of drop boxes, poll watching and other voting processes should be put on hold, while state court cases about voting move forward. Ranjan was appointed by Trump, and the federal courts in some instances can be considered friendlier to conservative interests. In other words, the Court will apply the brakes to this lawsuit, and allow the Pennsylvania state courts to weigh in and interpret the state statutes that undergird Plaintiffs' federal- constitutional claims," Ranjan wrote Sunday. Pennsylvania is one of only a handful of states where Trump has sued to make mail-in voting tougher making this case a closely watched one.

Source: CNN August 23, 2020 20:15 UTC