22 States and Territories File Brief in Opposition to Texas Supreme Court Election Lawsuit

The United States Supreme Court during a warm autumn day in Washington, on Oct. 22, 2020. Samuel Corum/Getty Images

The District of Columbia filed a legal brief on behalf of 22 blue states and territories on Dec. 10 opposing a lawsuit request filed with the Supreme Court by the State of Texas, which challenges the election results in four battleground states.

The group represents all but one state with Democratic attorneys general not counting the four defendants: Pennsylvania, Georgia, Michigan, and Wisconsin. The states and territories are: The District of Columbia, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Guam, Hawaii, Illinois, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Minnesota, Nevada, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, North Carolina, Oregon, Rhode Island, Vermont, Virginia, U.S. Virgin Islands, and Washington.

“The people have chosen. But Texas, supported by 17 other states, asks this Court to overturn that choice,” the brief (pdf), signed by District of Columbia Solicitor General Loren Alikhan, states. “Amici States urge this Court to reject Texas’s last-minute attempt to throw out the results of an election decided by the people and securely overseen and certified by its sister states.”

Texas sued the battleground states of Georgia, Pennsylvania, Michigan, and Wisconsin on Dec. 8, alleging that officials there conducted the 2020 general election in violation of the Constitution. The defendant states illegally altered election laws, causing a flood of mail-in votes without appropriate ballot integrity measures in place, Texas alleged. The resulting irregularities put the ultimate outcome of the election in doubt, the lawsuit argues.

The Trump campaign and six states with Republican attorneys general filed motions to join Texas in the lawsuit. A group of 17 states with Republican attorneys general filed briefs in support of Texas on Dec. 19.

Ohio Republican Attorney General Dave Yost, filed a brief “in support of neither party,” arguing against the relief sought by Texas. The office of Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton did not respond to a request for comment on Yost’s filing.

Five other Republican attorneys general—from Alaska, Idaho, Kentucky, New Hampshire, and Wyoming—have not filed briefs in support of Texas or motions to join the case. The offices of the attorneys general for Idaho, Kentucky, New Hampshire, and Wyoming did not respond to requests for comment. The governor of Alaska said his attorney general did not have enough time to review the lawsuit before the deadline to join the case expired.

“I’ll be the first to admit that I was disappointed that we didn’t have enough time to thoroughly review the details. Had this not been the case, we may have come to a different decision,” Alaska Gov. Dunleavy said in a statement emailed to The Epoch Times. “My understanding is that the Supreme Court will make a quick decision prior to December 14. Depending on the outcome, Alaska will respond accordingly.”

The defendant states submitted four briefs in opposition to Texas around the 3 p.m. Thursday deadline set by the court.

“Texas seeks to invalidate elections in four states for yielding results with which it disagrees. Its request for this Court to exercise its original jurisdiction and then anoint Texas’ preferred candidate for President is legally indefensible and is an affront to principles of constitutional democracy,” the Pennsylvania brief (pdf) states.