“Texas has not demonstrated a judicially cognizable interest in the manner in which another State conducts its elections. All other pending motions are dismissed as moot,” the Court wrote.
The legal saga began on Tuesday when Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton asked the high court to throw out the voting results in four battleground states—Georgia, Michigan, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin—that went for President-elect Joe Biden over President Donald Trump.
Paxton accused the states of exploiting the coronavirus pandemic to ignore federal and state election laws to skew the results of the November 3 election. He specifically challenged the legality of mail-in ballots, which he alleged were placed in drop boxes with “little or no chain of custody” and weren’t subject to strong signature verification requirements.
“Their failure to abide by the rule of law casts a dark shadow of doubt over the outcome of the entire election,” Paxton said in a statement. “We now ask that the Supreme Court step in to correct this egregious error.”
Officials from each state sued by the attorney general quickly dismissed the charges. Georgia Deputy Secretary of State Jordan Fuchs said the claims are “false and irresponsible.” Pennsylvania Attorney General Josh Shaprio commented that “these continued attacks on our fair and free election system are beyond meritless, beyond reckless. Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel told CNN that she felt sorry for Texas residents who have to foot the bill for the long-shot litigation.
Biden has amassed 306 electoral votes, exceeding the necessary 270 to clinch victory in the state-by-state Electoral College, and leading in the national popular vote by more than 7 million votes. So far, Trump has refused to concede the election and continues to baselessly claim that the contest was riddled with widespread voter fraud.
While legal experts quickly dismissed Paxton’s lawsuit, 17 states whose elections were won by Trump told the Supreme Court Wednesday that they supported Texas’s attempt to overturn the results. Trump also filed a motion Wednesday to intervene in the case in his personal capacity as a candidate.
On Thursday, 106 Republicans from the House of Representatives signed on to an amicus brief in the Texas lawsuit to invalidate millions of votes.
“Most of my Republican colleagues in the House, and countless millions of our constituents across the country, now have serious concerns with the integrity of our election system. The purpose of our amicus brief will be to articulate this concern and express our sincere belief that the great importance of this issue merits a full and careful consideration by the Court,” Representative Mike Johnson, who led the effort to draft an amicus brief in the case, said in a statement to Newsweek.
Officials from Georgia, Michigan, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin didn’t mince words in their responses to the case and asked the Supreme Court on Thursday to reject the lawsuit.
“The court should not abide this seditious abuse of the judicial process, and should send a clear and unmistakable signal that such abuse must never be replicated,” a brief for Pennsylvania said.
Georgia Attorney General Christopher Carr wrote to the court: “This election cycle, Georgia did what the Constitution empowered it to do: it implemented processes for the election, administered the election in the face of logistical challenges brought on by COVID19, and confirmed and certified the election results— again and again and again. Yet Texas has sued Georgia anyway.”
Ahead of the Supreme Court’s decision, Trump tweeted Friday that the court would show “Wisdom and Courage” if they ruled in favor of Texas.
“If the Supreme Court shows great Wisdom and Courage, the American People will win perhaps the most important case in history, and our Electoral Process will be respected again!” the president wrote.
