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
- GOP State Legislators Asked Pence Not Certify Election - Melanie Conklin - Jan 14th, 2021
- Rep. Hintz: Condemns Republican Legislators’ Lies and Dangerous Rhetoric - State Rep. Gordon Hintz - Jan 14th, 2021
- Tiffany, Fitzgerald Object To Some Biden Electors - Shawn Johnson - Jan 7th, 2021
- Sen. Baldwin: “It’s Disgraceful” - Urban Milwaukee - Jan 6th, 2021
- Rep Moore Blames Trump for Today’s Chaos - Urban Milwaukee - Jan 6th, 2021
- Rep. Gallagher: “We are witnessing absolute banana republic crap in the United States Capitol right now” - Urban Milwaukee - Jan 6th, 2021
- Back in the News: Cleta Mitchell Resigns from Foley Firm - Bruce Murphy - Jan 5th, 2021
- Gallagher Assails GOP Push to Nullify Election - Rob Mentzer - Jan 5th, 2021
- Back in the News: Foley Firm Faces Blowback on Trump Call - Bruce Murphy - Jan 5th, 2021
- Johnson Discusses Election Integrity, Electoral Commission on Fox News - U.S. Sen. Ron Johnson - Jan 5th, 2021
Read more about 2020 General Election here
More about the Trump's Election Lawsuits
- 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
- Trump Asks U.S. Supreme Court to Overturn Wisconsin’s Election - Graham Kilmer - Dec 29th, 2020
- Trump campaign: Takes Wisconsin constitutional fight to Supreme Court - Donald Trump - Dec 29th, 2020
- Wisconsin Republicans Join New Federal Election Lawsuit - Jeramey Jannene - Dec 23rd, 2020
- Justices Face Anti-Semitic, Misogynist Attacks After Trump Ruling - Ruth Conniff - Dec 18th, 2020
- Ron Johnson Parrots Trump’s Rejected Legal Arguments - Shawn Johnson - Dec 17th, 2020
- Murphy’s Law: Why Republicans Won’t End Election Complaints - Bruce Murphy - Dec 14th, 2020
- Statement of Republican Electors Meeting - Republican Party of Wisconsin - Dec 14th, 2020
- AG Kaul Issues Statement on Wisconsin Supreme Court Ruling on the Challenge to Wisconsin’s Election Results - Josh Kaul - Dec 14th, 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.