Denial of Leave to Amend and Premature Dismissal in Trump v. Boockvar (PA)

The U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Pennsylvania dismissed the Trump campaign’s lawsuit on the pleadings-criticizing the campaign for “speculative accusations unsupported by evidence”-while simultaneously denying the campaign the opportunity to conduct any discovery to obtain such evidence and explicitly blocking a second amendment of the complaint. The Third Circuit affirmed, stating an amendment “would be pointless.” The court’s demand for evidence it simultaneously prevented the plaintiffs from gathering represents a fundamental logical inconsistency incompatible with due process norms in high-stakes civil litigation.