GOP Reacts As Texas Sues GA, MI, PA, WI At Supreme Court Over Changes To 2020 Elec­tion Laws

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Posted By: Lindsey Michelle December 8, 2020

The State of Texas filed a lawsuit directly with the U.S. Supreme Court shortly before midnight on Monday challenging the election procedures in Georgia, Michigan, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin on the grounds that they violate the Constitution, as reported by Breitbart.

Texas argues that these states violated the Electors Clause of the Constitution because they made changes to voting rules and procedures through the courts or through executive actions, but not through the state legislatures. Additionally, Texas argues that there were differences in voting rules and procedures in different counties within the states, violating the Constitution’s Equal Protection Clause. Finally, Texas argues that there were “voting irregularities” in these states as a result of the above, per Breitbart.

Texas is asking the Supreme Court to order the states to allow their legislatures to appoint their electors. The lawsuit states in part:

Certain officials in the Defendant States presented the pandemic as the justification for ignoring state laws regarding absentee and mail-in voting. The Defendant States flooded their citizenry with tens of millions of ballot applications and ballots in derogation of statutory controls as to how they are lawfully received, evaluated, and counted. Whether well intentioned or not, these unconstitutional acts had the same uniform effect—they made the 2020 election less secure in the Defendant States. Those changes are inconsistent with relevant state laws and were made by non-legislative entities, without any consent by the state legislatures. The acts of these officials thus directly violated the Constitution.

This case presents a question of law: Did the Defendant States violate the Electors Clause by taking non-legislative actions to change the election rules that would govern the appointment of presidential electors? These non-legislative changes to the Defendant States’ election laws facilitated the casting and counting of ballots in violation of state law, which, in turn, violated the Electors Clause of Article II, Section 1, Clause 2 of the U.S. Constitution. By these unlawful acts, the Defendant States have not only tainted the integrity of their own citizens’ vote, but their actions have also debased the votes of citizens in Plaintiff State and other States that remained loyal to the Constitution.

Texas approached the Supreme Court directly because Article III provides that it is the court of first impression on subjects where it has original jurisdiction, such as disputes between two or more states, according to Breitbart. Continued Below

“Trust in the integrity of our election processes is sacrosanct and binds our citizenry and the States in this Union together. Georgia, Michigan, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin destroyed that trust and compromised the security and integrity of the 2020 election,” said Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton.

“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,” Paxton said.

“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,” he urged. Continued Below

President Donald Trump reacted on Twitter Tuesday, declaring, “For courage & brilliance!”

https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/1336369809529966592?s=20

Texas Governor Greg Abbott expressed, “God Bless Texas.”

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White House press secretary Kayleigh McEnany shared the news, writing, “This means Texas will have original jurisdiction to go directly to the Supreme Court!”

Trump campaign lawyer, Jenna Ellis, tweeted part of the lawsuit: “Our Country stands at an important crossroads. Either the Constitution matters and it must be followed, even when some officials consider it inconvenient or out of date, or it is simply a piece of parchment on display… We ask the Court to choose the former.”

https://twitter.com/Raiklin/status/1336319384193626113?s=20

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The lawsuit:

TX v State Motion 2020-12-0… 

(Related: Sen. Cruz Agrees To Present Oral Argument If Supreme Court Decides To Hear PA Case)

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