NJ Joins Fight To Preserve Presidential Election Results
NEW JERSEY - New Jersey joined 21 states and territories have come to defense of Pennsylvania in their Supreme Court battle with Texas over the results of the 2020 presidential election, according to Attorney General Gurbir Grewal.
"The people have chosen. These baseless lawsuits and this misinformation campaign must end," Grewal said on social media. "States took steps to ensure their elections could operate fairly, efficiently and safely in the midst of #COVID19 and I'm proud to stand up for those efforts, and our democracy."
Texas was joined by 17 other states and President Donald Trump in its election lawsuit against Pennsylvania and other battleground states, as Republicans and the president continue efforts to persuade the U.S. Supreme Court to intervene in the final days before the Electoral College meets to vote.
The suit claims that Pennsylvania, Georgia, Wisconsin and Michigan compromised the election through last-minute changes to election law. States that joined Texas in the lawsuit include Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Indiana, Kansas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, North Dakota, Oklahoma, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee, Utah and West Virginia.
"Election integrity is central to our republic," Missouri Attorney General Eric Schmitt said on Twitter. "And I will defend it at every turn."
New Jersey joined with the District of Columbia, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Hawaii, Illinois, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Minnesota, Nevada, New Mexico, New York, North Carolina, Oregon, Rhode Island, Vermont, Washington, Guam and the U.S. Virgin Islands Thursday and filed an amici curiae.
This means they are offering the court information or advice regarding questions of law or fact.
"Amici States have a strong interest in the outcome of this case. Specifically, the Amici States have a critical interest in allowing state courts and local actors to interpret and implement state election law, and in ensuring that states retain their sovereign ability to safely and securely accommodate voters in light of emergencies such as COVID-19. Amici States, moreover, have a critical interest in ensuring that their sister states—Georgia, Michigan, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin—can give effect to the millions of lawfully cast votes targeted by Texas’s lawsuit," the motion reads.
The Amici States claim in their brief:
The Electors Clause Provides No Basis To Second-Guess State Courts And Local Actors In Their Interpretation Of State Law
States’ Common-Sense Measures Taken In Response To The Coronavirus Pandemic Did Not Introduce Widespread Fraud
The complete filing can be found online.
Officials have repeatedly said there is no evidence of fraud in the 2020 election and that there is no evidence to indicate that mail-in voting is not secure. The claims made in this multi-state suit were raised repeatedly in cases dismissed in both federal and state court in Pennsylvania.
Due to what the GOP plaintiffs in the case describe as fraud in the four battleground states, they urge in the lawsuit that the U.S. Supreme Court throw out the election results in those states and instead allow the respective state legislatures to appoint the winner.
The four battleground states have until 3 p.m. Thursday to respond to the filing, the court said. It's not yet clear when the court will rule on the case.
On Wednesday, the U.S. Supreme Court rejected a separate filing from U.S. Rep. Mike Kelly and former House candidate Sean Parnell that challenged the legality of Pennsylvania's Act 77, a bipartisan measure passed before the pandemic which allowed for "no excuse" mail-in voting.
The Electoral College meets for its vote Monday.
This post contains reporting from Justin Heinze.
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This article originally appeared on the Mendham-Chester Patch
