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A Pennsylvania judge on Wednesday ordered a pause to any election certification proceedings still pending in the state as part of a lawsuit brought by a number of Republican candidates and legislators, including Rep. Mike Kelly and candidate Sean Parnell.

The judge’s action does not affect the outcome of the presidential race in Pennsylvania, where the results officially were certified Tuesday.

In her preliminary order, Commonwealth Court Judge Patricia McCullough granted a hearing on the Republican suit that alleges the state’s broad expansion of mail-in voting was unconstitutional and seeks to have those ballots tossed out.

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In the presidential race, the Wednesday order halts the process “to the extent that there remains any further action to perfect the certification of the results,” meaning the small number of ballots that remain to be tabulated by county election boards around the state.

It wasn’t immediately clear whether the order from McCullough, a Republican, could hold up the certification of state and local contests on the ballot or interrupt the scheduled Dec. 14 meeting of the state’s 20 electors. McCullough scheduled a hearing for Friday.

State Attorney General Josh Shapiro wrote on Twitter that the order “does not impact yesterday’s appointment of electors,” referring to the 20 electoral votes Biden is set to receive from Pennsylvania.

The attorney general’s office filed an appeal with the Pennsylvania Supreme Court within hours of the Commonwealth Court action.

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President Donald Trump’s legal team suffered yet another defeat in court Friday as a federal appeals court in Philadelphia roundly rejected the campaign’s latest effort to challenge the state’s election results.

Trump’s lawyers vowed to appeal to the Supreme Court despite the judges’ assessment that the “campaign’s claims have no merit.”

“Free, fair elections are the lifeblood of our democracy. Charges of unfairness are serious. But calling an election unfair does not make it so. Charges require specific allegations and then proof. We have neither here,” 3rd Circuit Judge Stephanos Bibas wrote for the three-judge panel.

The case had been argued last week in a lower court by Trump lawyer Rudy Giuliani, who insisted during five hours of oral arguments that the 2020 presidential election had been marred by widespread fraud in Pennsylvania. However, Giuliani failed to offer any tangible proof of that in court.

U.S. District Judge Matthew Brann had said the campaign’s error-filled complaint, “like Frankenstein’s Monster, has been haphazardly stitched together” and denied Giuliani the right to amend it for a second time.

The 3rd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals called that decision justified. The three judges on the panel were all appointed by Republican presidents. including Bibas, a former University of Pennsylvania law professor appointed by Trump. Trump’s sister, Judge Maryanne Trump Barry, sat on the court for 20 years, retiring in 2019.

“Voters, not lawyers, choose the president. Ballots, not briefs, decide elections,” Bibas said in the opinion, which also denied the campaign’s request to stop the state from certifying its results, a demand he called “breathtaking.”

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“The activist judicial machinery in Pennsylvania continues to cover up the allegations of massive fraud,” Trump lawyer Jenna Ellis tweeted after Friday’s ruling. “On to SCOTUS!”