Texas sues Wisconsin over changes to election laws

The Texas attorney general is suing battleground states, including Wisconsin, over what he called unconstitutional changes to election laws.

Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton filed lawsuits Tuesday, December 8, 2020, against Georgia, Michigan, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin in the United States Supreme Court.

The suit claims the four states “exploited the COVID-19 pandemic to justify ignoring federal and state election laws and unlawfully enacting last-minute changes, thus skewing the results of the 2020 General Election.”

“I feel sorry for Texans that their tax dollars are being wasted on such a genuinely embarrassing lawsuit,” Wisconsin Attorney General Josh Kaul tweeted in response. “Texas is as likely to change the outcome of the Ice Bowl as it is to overturn the will of Wisconsin voters in the 2020 presidential election.”

Paxton said “battleground states flooded their people with unlawful ballot applications and ballots while ignoring statutory requirements as to how they were received, evaluated and counted.”

“As we are in various other meritless cases challenging the results of the election, the Wisconsin Department of Justice will defend against this attack on our democracy,” Kaul also tweeted.

“These continued attacks on our fair and free election system are beyond meritless, beyond reckless — they are a scheme by the President of the United States and some in the Republican party to disregard the will of the people– and name their own victors,” Pennsylvania Attorney General Josh Shapiro tweeted.

“The motion filed by the Texas Attorney General is a publicity stunt, not a serious legal pleading,” Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel said in a statement. “The erosion of confidence in our democratic system isn’t attributable to the good people of Michigan, Wisconsin, Georgia or Pennsylvania but rather to partisan officials, like Mr. Paxton, who place loyalty to a person over loyalty to their country. The Michigan issues raised in this complaint have already been thoroughly litigated and roundly rejected in both state and federal courts – by judges appointed from both political parties. Mr. Paxton’s actions are beneath the dignity of the office of Attorney General and the people of the great state of Texas.”

Paxton asked the U.S. Supreme Court to invalidate the four states’ 62 Electoral College votes for President-elect Joe Biden, a move that would swing the election to President Donald Trump.

Courts in Arizona, Georgia, Michigan, Nevada and Pennsylvania have dismissed lawsuits challenging Biden victories in those states.

A hearing was scheduled for Thursday, December 10, 2020, on whether Trump’s Wisconsin lawsuit will proceed.

Biden won Wisconsin by 20,682 votes.

The Wisconsin Supreme Court rejected a recount challenge filed by Trump’s team last week, saying it first needed to be considered by circuit courts in Milwaukee and Dane counties.

Other than Wisconsin, every state appears to have met a deadline in federal law that essentially means Congress has to accept the electoral votes that will be cast next week and sent to the Capitol for counting on Jan. 6.