Update News Texas suing 4 states: 17 states have filed in support, Trump moves to intervene

Texas’ attorney general, Ken Paxton (pictured before the Supreme Court in 2019), has begun the process to file a complaint against four states’ elections. MANDEL NGAN / Contributor / Getty Images

Latest News: 18 states, and Trump, join Texas request for Supreme Court to overturn Biden wins in four states. Georgia, Michigan, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin on Thursday urged the U.S. Supreme Court to reject a lawsuit filed by Texas and backed by President Donald Trump seeking to undo President-elect Joe Biden's election victory, saying the case has no factual or legal grounds and offers "bogus" claims.

Texas AG Ken Paxton’s longshot suit asks the high court to negate over 10M votes, and 62 electoral votes, in Georgia, Penn., Michigan and Wisconsin.

17 States Join Texas In General Election Supreme Court Lawsuit Against 4 Swing States of Wisconsin, Michigan, Pennsylvania and Georgia. The states of Missouri, Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Indiana, Kansas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Montana, Nebraska, North Dakota, Oklahoma, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee, Utah and West Virginia have all signed on to the brief that backs the Texas suit.

That lawsuit was filed directly with the United States Supreme Court on Monday, Dec. 7.

Paxton’s case repeats allegations about mail-in voting that have already been roundly rejected in dozens of courts across the nation.

The Texas suit was filed on the same day as the Dec. 8 “safe harbor” date for states to certify their slates of electors to send to the Electoral College.

On Tuesday evening, the Supreme Court ordered the defendant states to reply by 3 p.m. on Thursday, Dec. 10.

The Supreme Court and Texas Sue

The supreme court has a 6-3 conservative majority, including three justices appointed by Trump.

“It’s not unusual,” SMU Constitutional Law Professor Dale Carpenter told CBS 11. “I don’t think it indicates anything very important… I think the court will act quickly on Thursday.”

“The states violated statutes enacted by their duly elected legislatures, thereby violating the Constitution. By ignoring both state and federal law, these states have not only tainted the integrity of their own citizens’ vote, but of Texas and every other state that held lawful elections,” said Paxton. “Their failure to abide by the rule of law casts a dark shadow of doubt over the outcome of the entire election. We now ask that the Supreme Court step in to correct this egregious error.”

“Ken Paxton is asking that Republican state legislatures in four states be allowed to displace the will of the voters in those States and choose their own slate of electors, presumably to hand the election to Donald Trump in January,” said Carpenter. “The Supreme Court is not going to allow that to happen.”

U.S. President Donald Trump exits after speaking during an Operation Warp Speed vaccine summit at the White House in Washington, D.C., U.S., on Tuesday, Dec. 8, 2020. Al Drago | Bloomberg | Getty Images

Paul Smith, a professor at Georgetown University’s law school, said Texas did not have a legitimate basis to bring the suit.

“There is no possible way that the state of Texas has standing to complain about how other states counted the votes and how they are about to cast their electoral votes,” Smith said to Guardian (UK).

The supreme court is not obligated to hear the case and has said in previous decisions that its “original jurisdiction” that allows litigation between states to be filed directly with the nine justices should be invoked sparingly.

Officials in 4 states Said

State election officials have said they have found no evidence of such fraud that would change the results, and local and national officials have declared it the most secure election in US history.

In an interview late Tuesday with Fox News, Paxton reiterated his argument that if those states acted out of accordance with the Constitution, Texans would also be affected.

“Our job is to make sure that the Constitution is followed and that every vote counts,” he said. “In this case I am not sure every vote was counted, not in the right way.”

Officials in Georgia were quick to dismiss Paxton's allegations, as were leaders in the other three states named in the lawsuit.

"The allegations in the lawsuit are false and irresponsible," Georgia's deputy secretary of state, Jordan Fuchs, said in a statement Tuesday. "Texas alleges that there are 80,000 forged signatures on absentee ballots in Georgia, but they don’t bring forward a single person who this happened to. That’s because it didn’t happen."

Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel dismissed Paxton's suit as "a publicity stunt, not a serious legal pleading."

Trump’s campaign and his allies have pursued unsuccessful lawsuits in Georgia, Michigan, Pennsylvania, Wisconsin and other states, making unfounded claims of widespread election fraud. Judges appointed under Democratic and Republican administrations, including Trump’s, have ruled against the president’s campaign, often in excoriating tones.

Trump lost those four states after winning them in 2016.

“This was not my case as has been so incorrectly reported,” President Trump wrote in a second tweet on Wednesday.

In a one-sentence order, the court said Tuesday that it would not grant a request from plaintiffs including Rep. Mike Kelly to void Pennsylvania’s election results.

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