Supreme Court Faces Pressure to Reject Texas's Election Suit

As the Electoral College is set to vote for President-elect Joseph R. Biden Jr. on Monday, the attorneys general of Pennsylvania, Michigan, Wisconsin, and Georgia filed blistering briefs with the Supreme Court, urging it to reject the Texas lawsuit seeking to overturn their election results. The lawsuit, backed by Republican allies of President Trump, claims the Supreme Court should investigate and override the election systems of the four states at the behest of Texas. The states' responses comprehensively critiqued Texas's unusual request, denouncing it as a seditious abuse of the judicial process and a radical remedy that would disenfranchise tens of millions of voters.

Key Takeaways:

• The attorneys general of Pennsylvania, Michigan, Wisconsin, and Georgia asked the Supreme Court to reject the Texas lawsuit seeking to overturn President-elect Joe Biden's victories in their states.
• The lawsuit, filed by Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton, represents the most coordinated, politicized attempt to overturn the will of the voters in recent American history.
• The states' briefs argued that the case does not belong in the Supreme Court, citing the Constitution's original jurisdiction and the fact that one state's disagreement with how another state chose to conduct its elections is not grounds for the court's intervention.
• The briefs also argued that Texas has not suffered the sort of injury that would give it standing to sue and that the case is without merit, replete with false claims and conspiracy theories.
• The Supreme Court has received more than a dozen friend-of-the-court briefs and motions seeking to intervene, from coalitions of red and blue states, from President Trump, and from politicians and scholars.
• Ohio's Attorney General, Dave Yost, filed a contrarian brief accusing Texas of inconsistency and calling for the Supreme Court to settle the meaning of the Electors Clause before the 2024 election.

Statistics:

• 17 Republican states have backed the lawsuit filed by Texas
• 106 Republican members of Congress have also backed the lawsuit
• Millions of voters in four states are at risk of having their votes thrown out if the Supreme Court grants the Texas request
• Tens of millions of voters could be disenfranchised if the Supreme Court permits Texas's radical remedy
• The Supreme Court has received over a dozen friend-of-the-court briefs and motions seeking to intervene in the case

Sources:

• The New York Times
• Photographs by Tamir Kalifa for The New York Times
• Adam Liptak and Jeremy W. Peters, reporting for The New York Times