Texas sues Georgia, Wisconsin, Michigan, Pennsylvania over election results

Need to update Corona virus messages in Texas? Our evening roundup will help you stay up to date with the latest updates of the day. Register here. Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton has filed lawsuits against four warring states – Georgia, Michigan, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin – whose election results presented the White House to President-elect Joe Biden. In that case, he claims epidemiological changes in electoral procedures in those states violated federal law and asked the U.S. Supreme Court to prevent states from voting in the Electoral College. The last-minute effort, which legal experts have already classified as a long-running one, comes with dozens of similar efforts by President Donald Trump and his political allies. Most of those cases have already failed. Officials in most states and U.S. Attorney General Bill Barr have said there is no evidence of widespread fraud in the 2020 election. Biden won in all four states challenging the Paxton results. In a lawsuit filed in the High Court on Tuesday, Paxton alleges that the four warring states violated the law by making contagious changes in electoral policies, “by administrative fiat or friendly lawsuits, thereby weakening voter integrity.” Paxton said the changes allowed voter fraud – a decision rejected by experts and election officials – and that the court should postpone the December 14 deadline, allowing states to nominate their presidential voters. “However, this deadline should not confirm an illegal election result in the midst of this storm,” Texas attorneys wrote. Authorities in Georgia – after reconsidering the results of the state election again on Monday by Secretary of State Brad Raffensberger – rushed to dismiss Bokston’s allegations. “The allegations in this case are false and irresponsible,” Georgia’s Undersecretary Jordan Fuchs said in a statement on Tuesday. “Texas alleges there were 80,000 forged signatures on votes that were not in Georgia, but they did not present a single person who caused it. That’s because it didn’t happen.” Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel dismissed Paxton’s case as “an advertising stunt, not a serious lawsuit.” “Mr. Paxton’s actions are under the control of the Attorney General and the people of the state of Texas,” he said. Paxton and Trump are political allies whose interests often stand in line in court, challenging Texas’ Affordable Care Act. Paxton, in public appearances, often refers to their relationship as a friendship, sharing the story of a time when the president called while Paxton was in the bathroom. Paxton, who has been charged with felony criminal mischief since 2015, faces fresh criminal charges from eight of his top deputies, who believe he violated the law by using the agency to help a political donor. The FBI is investigating the allegations, according to the Associated Press. Paxton has denied any wrongdoing. Significantly, Paxton is listed as the agency’s leading attorney in this case – a very unusual role for a state official who rarely joins hands even in the state’s major cases. Preston’s new chief deputy, Brent Webster, has signed up to file, but Solicitor General Kyle Hawkins, the agency’s top attorney for the appeals task, usually argues state cases in the Supreme Court, did just that last month. None of Hawkins’ representatives are listed as contributing to the case, nor are the agency’s hundreds of other lawyers. The agency apparently appointed Lawrence Joseph, an outsider lawyer, to assist in the case. The company did not respond to questions about its employee selection for the lawsuit, nor did Hawkins. .

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