Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton has filed a lawsuit directly
with the U.S. Supreme Court, accusing officials in four
battleground states of exploiting the coronavirus pandemic to make
unconstitutional last-minute changes to mail-in voting rules.
Paxton, a vocal supporter of President Trump, argues that
officials in Georgia, Michigan, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin
“violated statutes enacted by their duly elected legislatures” in
order to allow for increased mail-in balloting, thereby violating
the Constitution. Because of the states’ mail-in vote meddling, he
alleges at present that electors for the states should not be
allowed to cast their Electoral College votes.
“The four states exploited the COVID-19 pandemic to justify
ignoring federal and state election laws and unlawfully enacting
last-minute changes, thus skewing the results of the 2020 General
Election,” reads a Tuesday
press release announcing the lawsuit. “The battleground states
flooded their people with unlawful ballot applications and ballots
while ignoring statutory requirements as to how they were received,
evaluated and counted.”
The
lawsuit, which includes similar allegations made by President
Trump and his allies, was filed on the “safe harbor deadline” for
states to settle election disputes and lock in their presidential
electors, but ahead of the Dec. 14 Electoral College vote. In the
suit, Paxton is requesting that the Supreme Court delay the
Electoral College vote and allow for investigations into election
fraud to be completed.
“Their failure to abide by the rule of law casts a dark shadow
of doubt over the outcome of the entire election,” Paxton stated in
the press release. “We now ask that the Supreme Court step in to
correct this egregious error.”
Paxton was able to file the suit with the Supreme Court because
the high court has exclusive jurisdiction over legal disputes
between states,
the Hill noted. In the filing, the Texas attorney general also
argued that the nation’s highest court is the only judicial body
capable of handling such an important case dealing with the
Electoral College.
If the court should fail to intervene before the Electoral
College vote is cast, “a grave cloud will hang over not only the
presidency but also the republic,” Paxton argued.
The filing was met with immediate
criticism from some officials in the four battleground
states.
“The motion filed by the Texas attorney general is a publicity
stunt, not a serious legal pleading,” blasted Michigan Attorney
General Dana Nessel in a statement. “The erosion of confidence in
our democratic system isn’t attributable to the good people of
Michigan, Wisconsin, Georgia or Pennsylvania but rather to partisan
officials, like Mr. Paxton, who place loyalty to a person over
loyalty to their country.”
Katie Byrd, spokeswoman for Georgia Attorney General Chris Carr,
argued that Paxton “is constitutionally, legally and factually
wrong” about the state.
