A Look at Trump’s Motion in Texas Case Against Wisconsin
Motion includes alternate history and a rehashing of election complaints.
President Donald Trump‘s campaign is attempting to join a lawsuit brought by the State of Texas and 17 other Republican-controlled states to overturn the election results in swing states critical to President-elect Joe Biden’s victory.
Ken Paxton, attorney general for the State of Texas, filed a motion Monday asking the U.S. Supreme Court to hear the case, which is targeting the election results in Wisconsin, Michigan, Pennsylvania and Georgia.
In the legal complaint, Paxton alleges that the four states in question violated their own election laws during the administration of the election.
As Urban Milwaukee reported, Paxton’s suit goes after absentee ballots, repeating claims made by the Trump campaign that absentee ballot drop boxes were illegal, and that ballots where voters checked “indefinitely confined” should be thrown out.
The suit also points to the fact that Trump was winning before 3 a.m., and argues that Biden’s surge in votes once absentee ballots started being counted indicates an irregularity in the election. Except, major cities, like Milwaukee, were all reporting that a number of absentee ballots remained outstanding and that they wouldn’t be reported until the following morning at the earliest.
Like so many other suits filed by the Trump campaign and its allies, the Paxton suit seeks to have the court declare the election results in the four states invalid and to have the Republican-controlled state legislatures choose the electors for the presidential contest.
Trump is represented by Attorney John C. Eastman in his motion to intervene in the Paxton suit. Attorney Eastman made a name for himself promoting a birther conspiracy theory against Vice President-elect Kamala Harris.
In the complaint in Trump’s motion to intervene, Eastman makes reference to a Rasmussen poll on the percentage of Americans that believe there was election fraud. He points to polarization, saying the country has not been so divided since the election of 1860 — which directly preceded the U.S. Civil War.
He incorrectly claims that no candidate for president has ever lost the election after winning Florida and Ohio. In 1960, Richard Nixon won both Florida and Ohio and still lost to John F. Kennedy. He pointed to victories in “bellwether counties” and down ballot Republican victories around the country. Then he points to the fact Trump received more votes in 2020 than he did in 2016, ignoring the fact this was a record-breaking election for voter turnout.
Eastman goes on to repeat many of the allegations concerning absentee ballots and ballot drop boxes found in the Paxton suit. And he alleges there was a “nationwide campaign” of lawsuits leading up to the election that sought to weaken ballot security and integrity.
His argument posits that because state legislatures did not legislate absentee ballot guidelines, they are therefore illegal.
But nowhere in the complaint does Eastman provide proof that election laws were violated. Eastman even admits as much when he writes: “It is not necessary for the Plaintiff in Intervention to prove that fraud occurred.” Rather, the plaintiff, in this case Trump, only needs to demonstrate that the elections “materially deviated from the ‘manner’ of choosing electors established by their respective state Legislatures.”
Read the motion to intervene here.
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More about the 2020 General Election
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- Gableman’s Office Held in Contempt of Court - Madeline Fox - Jun 10th, 2022
- Murphy’s Law: The Bradley Foundation’s Election Deniers - Bruce Murphy - Jun 7th, 2022
- The State of Politics: ‘Telling The Truth’ Led to Knudson Resignation - Steven Walters - Jun 6th, 2022
- Gableman Election Review $220,500 Over Budget - Henry Redman - Jun 2nd, 2022
- Another Judge Rejects Challenge to 2020 Election Grants - Shawn Johnson - Jun 1st, 2022
- Gathering To Spread the Big Lie - Henry Redman - May 25th, 2022
- Judge May Fine Vos in Gableman Open Records Case - Shawn Johnson - May 20th, 2022
- Democrats File Suit Against State Republicans Who Posed As Electors - Shawn Johnson - May 17th, 2022
- Gableman Review Paused, But His Pay Continues - Henry Redman - May 12th, 2022
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More about the Trump's Election Lawsuits
- Op Ed: Hold Wisconsin’s Fraudulent Electors Accountable - Jeffrey Mandell - Jan 6th, 2022
- Data Wonk: How Fox Spread Lies About State’s Election - Bruce Thompson - Mar 31st, 2021
- ‘Kraken’ Lawsuits Not Based on Facts - Graham Kilmer - Mar 23rd, 2021
- Supreme Court Brushes Off Trump Election Challenge - Graham Kilmer - Mar 8th, 2021
- U.S. Supreme Court Rejects Wisconsin ‘Kraken’ Suit - Graham Kilmer - Mar 1st, 2021
- Data Wonk: High Court Minority Embarrasses Itself - Bruce Thompson - Feb 24th, 2021
- Supreme Court Denies Trump’s Wisconsin Election Lawsuit - Graham Kilmer - Feb 22nd, 2021
- Data Wonk: With Donald Trump It’s Never Over - Bruce Thompson - Feb 17th, 2021
- Federal Judge Tears Apart Election Lawsuit - Graham Kilmer - Jan 4th, 2021
- Op Ed: Hagedorn Wisconsin’s Person of The Year - John Torinus - Dec 30th, 2020
Read more about Trump's Election Lawsuits here
I find it absolutely breathtaking that ANYONE would so brazenly try to overturn the people’s will. I hope that every single person that voted absentee is ready to stand up and demand that their vote be counted. It is so annoying that there are those that think the ends justify the means, no matter what. Patriotic? I think not.
What they can’t admit is that republican voters turned out and voted for only the republican candidates they could stomach.
These “lawsuits” are not lawsuits at all. They are thinly veiled attempts at a coup. Not only should these lawyers be turned away, but they should be disbarred from practice for bringing frivolous suits.