The U.S. Supreme Court on Tuesday rejected an appeal from Pennsylvania officials to hear a lawsuit that sought to overturn the state's results in the Nov. 3 presidential election.

The rejection came on the same day Pennsylvania officials had asked the justices to deny the GOP request for an injunction to halt and nullify certification of the election.

The state's response called the lawsuit “nothing less than an affront to constitutional democracy.”

“It should meet a swift and decisive end,” the state's response concluded.

U.S. Rep. Mike Kelly, R-16th, and several other Republican candidates are behind the suit, filed Dec. 1.

In the state's Tuesday response to the U.S. Supreme Court, it noted that Kelly and the others are asking the highest court to do something that's never been done: overturning presidential election results that have a governor's certification.

“The application for injunctive relief presented to Justice Alito and by him referred to the court is denied,” read the court's short order.

The appeal to the Supreme Court came three days after the Pennsylvania Supreme Court dropped the lawsuit that sought to throw out 2.5 million mail-in ballots cast in the election. It concluded that Kelly and the other petitioners waited too long to challenge the state's mail-in voting law known as Act 77.

Gov. Tom Wolf, one of the defendants in the lawsuit, on Nov. 24 certified President-elect Joe Biden as the winner of the presidential election in the state.

Biden defeated Trump by a margin of 80,555 votes. In 2016, Trump won the state.

But the petitioners, who also include Sean Parnell, a GOP candidate for the 17th District that encompasses a small part of Butler County, claim Pennsylvania's universal, no-excuse mail-in ballot law violated the state's constitution.

They argue the state legislature lacked authority to act on its own in 2019 when it expanded the availability of remote voting, contending that such a move required an amendment to the state constitution. Along with Wolf, the litigation named Secretary of State Kathy Boockvar and the Republican-controlled General Assembly as defendants.

In its response to the U.S Supreme Court, the state cites a similar lawsuit against Pennsylvania and its officials that was filed by Donald J. Trump for President in the 3rd Circuit Court of Appeals. In that case, the judges wrote, “Democracy depends on counting all lawful votes promptly and finally, not setting them aside without weighty proof. The public must have confidence that our government honors and respects their votes.”

The state continued, “But petitioners would throw all that to the wind. After waiting over a year to challenge Act 77, and engaging in procedural gamesmanship along the way, they come to this court with unclean hands and ask it to disenfranchise an entire state. They make that request without any acknowledgment of the staggering upheaval, turmoil and acrimony it would unleash.”

Responding to the argument that Act 77 is unconstitutional, the state noted that Pennsylvania's General Assembly enacted Act 77 with bipartisan support and the move helped make it easier for people to vote by offering the option of mail-in voting for state residents who did not qualify for absentee voting.

Elected officials have responded to the lawsuit. In an interview with the Philadelphia Inquirer, U.S. Sen. Pat Toomey, R-Pa., said Trump's reported attempts to overturn the results of the presidential election in Pennsylvania were “completely unacceptable.”

And state Attorney General Josh Shapiro said in a statement that, “These continued attacks on our fair and free election system are beyond meritless, beyond reckless — they are a scheme by the President of the United States and some in the Republican party to disregard the will of the people — and name their own victors. This isn't a pick your own ending novel — this is a democracy.”