WASHINGTON – The U.S. Supreme Court has refused to hear a lawsuit filed by Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton to overturn election results in four swing states.
The court issued its order December 11, shutting down Paxton’s request that was supported by other Republican AGs and Republican lawmakers in amicus briefs. Earlier in the week, the court also refused to hear a similar appeal by Pennsylvania Republicans.
West Virginia Attorney General Patrick Morrisey signed the amicus brief with 16 other Republican AGs to support Texas’ lawsuit. West Virginia Secretary of State Mac Warner and two of the state’s GOP Representatives – Alex Mooney and Carol Miller – also signed an amicus brief supporting Texas.
The justices said Texas “has not demonstrated a judicially cognizable interest in the manner in which another State conducts its elections.” It had sought to invalidate the results of the presidential election in Georgia, Michigan, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin. Joe Biden was declared the victor in each of those states.
President Donald Trump supported the lawsuit as well, calling it “the big one.”
Justices Samuel Alito and Clarence Thomas said they would have heard the lawsuit. They previously had said the court doesn’t have the right to dismiss lawsuits between states. However, they also said they would not have ruled for Texas and given those states’ 62 electoral votes to Biden.
The four states urged the court to rule the suit as meritless, and 22 other states and the District of Columbia filed their own amicus brief to support that opinion.
The Electoral College is scheduled to meet December 14 to formally elect Biden as the next president.