Texas Officials React To SCOTUS Presidential Election Ruling

AUSTIN, TX — Officials across Texas have reacted to a U.S. Supreme Court decision Friday rejecting a lawsuit led by the state's attorney general seeking to overturn the presidential election.

State Attorney General Ken Paxton had sought to invalidate millions of votes in four battleground states — Georgia, Michigan, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin — in a move endorsed by Donald Trump onto which several other Republican-led states later signed. But the high court late Friday opted not to hear the case, handing its second rejection this week of election-related litigation after a failed similar appeal from the Pennsylvania Republican Party.

The Supreme Court on Friday said the Texas-led suit "...has not demonstrated a judicially cognizable interest in the manner in which another state conducts its elections." The development ends what was seen as the last major legal challenge to results of the Nov. 3 election.

Related stories:

• Supreme Court Rejects Texas-Led Suit To Overturn Election Results

• Hundreds Of GOP Lawmakers Back Texas Lawsuit Against Elections

By early evening, Paxton issued a statement expressing disappointment in the outcome: “It is unfortunate that the Supreme Court decided not to take this case and determine the constitutionality of these four states’ failure to follow federal and state election law," he wrote. "I will continue to tirelessly defend the integrity and security of our elections and hold accountable those who shirk established election law for their own convenience.”

Paxton had filed an original lawsuit in the U.S. Supreme Court on Monday arguing that the Supreme Court must require the four defendant states "...to conduct their elections in a manner that complies with the Constitution and all federal and state laws," Paxton wrote. The suit accused the four states of having exploited the coronavirus pandemic to ignore federal and state election laws despite emergence of evidence supporting claims of resulting widespread voter fraud or irregularities.

Texas Republican Party Chairman Allen West was more strident in his reaction, positing the court's decision as a dangerous precedent: "The Supreme Court, in tossing the Texas lawsuit that was joined by 17 states and 106 U.S. congressman [sic] have declared that a state can take unconstitutional actions and violate its own election law," West wrote. "Resulting in damaging effects on other states that abide by the law, while the guilty state suffers no consequences."

It was unclear to which elections law violations West referred, as all 50 states have certified the presidential election that secured the needed Electoral College votes for Joe Biden and roughly 7 million more votes than the incumbent.

West suggested a future union of "law-abiding states" in reaction to the high court's ruling: "This decision establishes a precedent that says states can violate the U.S. Constitution and not be held accountable," West wrote. "This decision will have far-reaching ramifications for the future of our constitutional republic. Perhaps law-abiding states should bond together and form a Union of states that will abide by the Constitution."

It's not the first time the idea of secession has been floated amid the GOP-led effort to overturn the election. Republican State Rep. Kyle Biedermann on Tuesday introduced legislation furthering a referendum for voters to decide whether to break away from the U.S.

“The federal government is out of control and does not represent the values of Texans," the representative wrote on his Facebook page. "That is why I am committing to file legislation this session that will allow a referendum to give Texans a vote for the State of Texas to reassert its status as an independent nation.”

Biedermann added that his proposal reflects ideals enshrined in the Texas Constitution, reading in part: “The faith of the people of Texas stands pledged to the preservation of a republican form of government, and, subject to this limitation only, they have at all times the inalienable right to alter, reform or abolish their government in such manner as they may think expedient.”

Despite the Supreme Court's opinion, West — and, by extension, the Texas Republican Party — remained defiant. "The Texas GOP will always stand for the Constitution and for the rule of law even while others don't," West wrote in concluding his statement.

Ahead of the court ruling, more than 120 of the Republican members of the U.S. House of Representatives expressed support for the move to overturn the presidential election, albeit wordlessly, by signing their names to an amicus brief on Thursday supporting the Texas-led measure. Among them was Rep. Roger Williams of the 25th Congressional District in the central portion of the state encompassing portions of Travis County along with Bosque, Burnet, Coryell, Hamilton, Hill, Johnson, Lampasas, and Somervell counties and parts of Bell, Erath, Hays and Tarrant counties.

Other GOP members from Texas signing their names in support of the measure to overturn the presidential election are: Dan Crenshaw, 2nd congressional district; Kevin Brady, 8th congressional district; Michael Burgess, 26th congressional district; Michael Cloud, 27th congressional district; Mike Conaway, 11th congressional district; Bill Flores, 17th congressional district; Louie Gohmert, 1st congressional district; Lance Gooden, 5th congressional district; Kenny Marchant, 24th congressional district; Randy Weber, 14th congressional district; Ron Wright, 6th congressional district; Jodey Arrington, 19th congressional district; and Brian Babin, 36th congressional district.

The take was decidedly different on the other side of the political spectrum. Joaquin Castro, a Democrat, noted the court loss came in spite of a Republican majority on the U.S. Supreme Court. "Even a conservative Supreme Court debunked @KenPaxtonTX’s shameless and absurd lawsuit," the U.S. House of Representatives for the state's 20th congressional district, wrote on Twitter.

Texas District 26 Sen. José Menéndez lamented the tax dollars spent on Paxton's ultimately failed legal pursuit: "It’s a shame that when all state agencies have been asked to cut their budgets, that AG Paxton wasted Texans’ taxpayer money on a frivolous lawsuit to help advance Trump’s unsubstantiated claims," the senator wrote on his Facebook page. "The Trump campaign should reimburse the citizens of Texas for this frivolous lawsuit that SCOTUS just rejected!"

Paxton on Thursday had struck a celebratory note after six more Republican-led states signed on to his lawsuit, joining 11 others. “Texas continues to lead the fight to protect election security and integrity, and today I gladly welcome Missouri, Arkansas, Louisiana, Mississippi, South Carolina and Utah to this historic endeavor," he wrote in a prepared statement.

Without citing specific evidence, Paxton accused the battleground states of ignoring elections rules: "By flouting state and federal election laws, the defendant battleground states have tainted the integrity of citizens’ votes across the entire nation,” the attorney general wrote. “To restore trust in the integrity of our election process, we must tirelessly defend its security and hold accountable those who discarded our Constitution for their own convenience. Texas is proud to have these states by its side in shining the bright light of justice.”

This article originally appeared on the Austin Patch