Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) has offered to argue the frivolous lawsuit filed by indicted Texas attorney general Ken Paxton and joined by 17 other red states if it reaches the Supreme Court, several media outlets reported on Wednesday, December 9, 2020 (read CNN story here).
Meanwhile, with Rudy Giuliani out of action (for messing with God; see story here), Trump’s representation is being taken over by an attorney whose claim to fame is writing a racist editorial falsely asserting Kamala Harris is ineligible to be vice president because her parents were immigrants (read that story here).
Paxton, by filing his quixotic lawsuit, reminds us the United States isn’t just a country but also a collection of states that conduct their own affairs, including elections. We don’t have a presidential election in America; we have states electing electors who elect the president.
His lawsuit is an attempt by Texas to interfere in how other states conducted their election of electors. Assuming federalism still exists in America, that’s their business, and none of his or other Texans’ business.
In legal terms, Texas doesn’t have standing to sue Georgia, Michigan, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin, because Texas has no right to tell those states how to choose their electors or which electors to choose. With electors set to vote for a president on Monday, December 14, expect this lawsuit to get tossed within 48 hours.
Nevertheless, it will go down in history as an ignominous effort by 18 states to tell the voters of 4 other states that their votes don’t count if they don’t vote for the candidate the 18 states want elected. If you live in one of those 4 states, don’t visit or do business with those 18 states. To see and hear Pennsylvania’s AG call Cruz a legal idiot and urge 18 of his fellow AGs to get their heads examined by psychiatrists, watch video here.
Finally, I must call out Republicans — who for decades demanded an end to “frivolous” lawsuits brought by consumers injured by shoddy products and patients harmed by incompetent doctors — for the SUPREME HYPOCRISY of this moment, now that they’re pursuing the ultimate frivolous lawsuit. Their lawyers should be disciplined for this.
At last it is clever as this forces the court to take up the case since it would be the trial court. One set of states saying they followed the constitution and laws an this other set of states did not. That would mean citizens were treated differently. The case may not be all that frivolous and the court will not be able to easily punt on this and to stay out of making any ruling. The possibility exists that states have violated the constitution of the United States. That certainly should concern the court and is why we have a Supreme Court. If it finds that states violated the constitution it may have no choice but to invalidate elections in one or more states, throwing the mess to congress. And the Constitution has a cure by making representatives and Senators elected by the people chose the President and Vice President. Yes it would piss off a good number of 80 some million people, but the courts job is to uphold the constitution not to please Democrats or Republicans or any faction.
It’s not clever, the Court won’t take the case, and that argument wouldn’t score any points on a law school exam.