Texas Lawsuit Seeking to Overturn 2020 Election Becomes Conservative Litmus Test
By [Your Name], [News Outlet]
Date
A controversial lawsuit filed by the state of Texas asking the U.S. Supreme Court to invalidate President-elect Joe Biden’s electoral victory has rapidly become a defining issue for conservative lawmakers. Backed by 106 Republican members of Congress and 17 Republican state attorneys general, the lawsuit signals the enduring influence of outgoing President Donald Trump—even as legal experts widely agree the case is unlikely to succeed.
The Texas lawsuit, filed by Attorney General Ken Paxton, targets the election results in four key battleground states—Michigan, Georgia, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin—claiming “unconstitutional irregularities” marred the vote. It seeks the extraordinary remedy of invalidating those states’ combined 62 Electoral College votes, a move that would effectively disenfranchise millions of voters.
Despite Trump and his allies losing dozens of court cases challenging the 2020 election results—and no evidence of widespread voter fraud—Trump has labeled the lawsuit “the big one” and continues to push false claims of a stolen election. On Thursday, a new Quinnipiac University poll showed that 77 percent of Republican voters believe there was widespread fraud, despite just 38 percent of all U.S. voters sharing that belief.
Legal scholars have dismissed the lawsuit as baseless. “The Supreme Court is not going to overturn the election in the Texas case, as the President has told them to do,” tweeted Rick Hasen, a law professor at the University of California, Irvine. He called the case “shameful” and warned of the broader implications of such support.
In a show of support for the case, 17 Republican attorneys general filed a motion backing Texas, and six of those states asked to formally join the lawsuit. Trump also moved to intervene, tweeting that the Supreme Court “has a chance to save our Country from the greatest Election abuse in the history of the United States.”
The president met at the White House Thursday with a dozen Republican attorneys general, including Paxton and others backing the legal challenge.
GOP Divides Emerge
While many Republicans have lined up behind the case, some high-profile party members have withheld support. House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy and Conference Chair Liz Cheney did not sign onto the effort, although House Minority Whip Steve Scalise did.
Several attorneys general have attempted to distance themselves from Trump’s fraud allegations. North Dakota Attorney General Wayne Stenehjem, whose office received thousands of constituent messages urging support, said the case was more about constitutional issues than fraud. “We’re careful on that,” he said.
Montana Attorney General Tim Fox called the lawsuit “belated” and said its chances of success were “slim at best,” though he supported it for raising “important constitutional questions.”
Still, the Supreme Court has shown little appetite for the case. Earlier this week, the court dismissed a similar Republican lawsuit challenging Pennsylvania’s certification of Biden’s win.
Broad Pushback from States
Officials from the four targeted states, along with more than 20 attorneys general from states including California and Virginia, have asked the Supreme Court to reject the Texas filing.
“Since Election Day, State and Federal courts throughout the country have been flooded with frivolous lawsuits aimed at disenfranchising large swaths of voters and undermining the legitimacy of the election,” wrote Pennsylvania Attorney General Josh Shapiro in a legal brief. “The State of Texas has now added its voice to the cacophony of bogus claims.”
Idaho’s Republican Attorney General Lawrence Wasden declined to join the case, citing legal principles over political pressure. “As is sometimes the case, the legally correct decision may not be the politically convenient decision,” he said in a statement.
Nevada Attorney General Aaron Ford, co-chair of the Democratic Attorneys General Association, criticized the effort, calling it a “dangerous precedent” and suggesting that some officials were “kowtowing” to Trump.
“There is no precedent for this,” Ford said.
As the nation awaits the Supreme Court’s decision, the case highlights the deep partisan rifts over the election and the ongoing challenges to American democratic norms.
