Trump wants former rival Ted Cruz to argue lawsuit seeking to overturn the election in front of the Supreme Court
DONALD Trump wants his former rival, Senator Ted Cruz, to argue a lawsuit seeking to overturn the election results – in front of the Supreme Court.
The suit was filed in by Attorney General Ken Paxton, who sued , , , and after multiple other lawsuits filed by 's legal team were denied by judges.
Paxton alleged those battleground states are using "to justify ignoring federal and state laws and unlawfully enacting last-minute changes, thus skewing the results of the 2020 General Election.”
reported on Wednesday that Trump asked Cruz if he would "make oral arguments in the case" if it reached the highest court in the – and Cruz agreed.
Cruz is a seasoned attorney having argued before the Supreme Court nine times before joining the in 2013.
In many of those cases, he represented the Lone Star State in his role as ' solicitor general.
Cruz has degrees in public policy and law from Princeton University and Harvard Law School.
Republican lawyers in 18 states have now filed an amicus brief (amicus curiae) or "friend of the court" brief after joined the fray on Wednesday night.
The other 17 states are: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , and .
The said these "friend of the court" briefs are often filed in appellate cases – applications for decisions to be reversed – heard by the Supreme Court and other courts.
"And there is considerable evidence that amicus briefs have influence," the association noted, reported .
The Supreme Court ordered the defendant states to reply by 3pm on Thursday after Trump repeatedly touted the case on Twitter and reportedly enlisted Cruz privately to help.
A staunch Trump supporter and Tea Party conservative, Paxton released a statement about the lawsuit earlier this week urging Americans to "trust in the integrity of our election processes."
"[It] is sacrosanct and binds our citizenry and the States in this Union together," he said. “Georgia, Michigan, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin destroyed that trust and compromised the security and integrity of the 2020 election.
"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.
"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.”
In the filing, Paxton alleged that officials in the four defendant states used the pandemic to justify flouting laws about absentee and mail-in voting, despite no evidence of widespread fraud.
The suit claimed that as a result of this, the election results in GA, PA, MI, and WS were "less secure" – but
Attorneys General in the four states that are being sued have clapped back at the claims with Wisconsin Attorney General Josh Kaul tweeting that he "feel[s] sorry for Texans."
"That their tax dollars are being wasted on such a genuinely embarrassing lawsuit," he wrote.
"Texas is as likely to change the outcome of the Ice Bowl as it is to overturn the will of Wisconsin voters in the 2020 presidential election."
Likewise, Pennsylvania AG Josh Shapiro described the situation as "sad" in a lively interview with MSNBC today, where he slammed the fact that attorneys general in other states had backed the lawsuit.
"Some of these attorneys general I have worked with," he raged. "Like the Facebook lawsuit that we filed today.
"We've worked constructively in the past. I don't know whether to call a surgeon to try and repair the spines of some of these individuals or a psychiatrist to examine their heads.
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"But something's wrong: they are afraid of something and it is up to us to continue to speak truth and it is up to the courts to continue to do what they've been doing which is to follow the law."
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Trump tweeted yesterday morning insisting the lawsuit would be successful after multiple other cases alleging election fraud were ousted from courts and by judges in numerous states.
“We will be INTERVENING in the Texas (plus many other states) case,” Trump wrote. “This is the big one. Our Country needs a victory!”