Texas is making the case to the Supreme Court that its citizens were damaged by how other states conducted their elections. They are seeking to throw out 20 million legally cast votes in four states, and asking SCOTUS push back the date on which electors vote, even though only Congress can change that law.
The lawsuit was filed by Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton, who is bucking for a pardon from Donald Trump. In 2015, Paxton was arrested for three felony securities fraud charges, and this past October, his own employees accused him of bribery and abuse of office. He’s likely hoping this stunt will ingratiate himself with Trump, who is going to go on a pardon spree very soon.
The Lonestar AG is arguing that state executives can’t change voting rules. This is not only not true, but the Texas governor did the very same thing when he used executive power to extend the early voting period. Kansas and Mississippi, which both signed onto this lawsuit, allowed mail-in ballots to arrive late, yet the lawsuit says that Georgia should not have been able to do that.
Obviously, none of this was thought through, and the case has zero legal merit; yet it bolsters the claim that the GOP has become the fascist party that will ignore the law and do whatever Trump asks them to do. They’ve gone beyond sabotaging elections and now want to straight up cancel them. The fact that so many red states signed onto this lawsuit is disturbing. Having contempt for democracy is not only not a problem in today’s Republican party, it’s a feature.
Even if SCOTUS accepts the case, Texas and friends will not prevail. Yet I really hope they do accept it, because then the GOP will really reap what they sow.
Texas AG Ken Paxton
Essentially, they would be saying that any state that doesn’t like what another state is doing has standing to sue. GOOD! I hate Texas’ ridiculous gun laws, as well as Florida’s Stand Your Ground, so New York and Pennsylvania get to sue ‘em both. Florida refuses to have a mask mandate, so our citizens are spreading COVID-19 everywhere they travel. States with strict mandates, like California, should sue the Sunshine State. Mississippi doesn’t allow early voting, whereas other states do. That affects the outcome of the elections which we all have to live under, so Mississippi gets sued as well.
Sturgis, SD became a super-spreader event. No mask mandate, no social distancing requirements. South Dakota needs to be sued.
Every right-wing state attaching themselves to this ridiculous lawsuit has massive voter suppression, including Texas. In fact, Texas is the most difficult state in the union to cast a vote. It reduced polling stations by 50% this election, and only allowed one dropbox per county—no matter the size. Texas also gerrymanders the hell out of the state, and has one of the most restrictive voter ID laws. If SCOTUS accepts hearing this case, they will have to twist themselves into pretzels trying to explain why they won’t allow blue states to sue Texas over their elections.
It’s a can of worms that Democratic Attorneys General should be prepared to open if the justices actually go through with hearing this case. In fact, I’m frankly a little ticked off that they haven’t gone ahead and filed a case or two already. They really need to do that, just so SCOTUS can be aware of what they can look forward to if they even entertain the option of pushing the Texas case forward just to appease a losing, temper-tantrum throwing president.
