by WorldTribune Staff, December 8, 2020
Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton on Monday filed a motion calling on the Supreme Court to block key swing states from certifying “unlawful election results.”
Paxton called on the high court to remand the election results to state legislatures for review.
The Supreme Court should direct state legislatures to reverse the unlawful actions of election officials by choosing Electoral College electors themselves, Paxton’s brief on behalf of Texas said.
Paxton’s brief contests the results in Georgia, Michigan, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin.
“As set forth in the accompanying brief and complaint, the 2020 election suffered from significant and unconstitutional irregularities in the Defendant States,” Paxton argues in the brief, first reported by Breitbart.
The Texas brief lists violations of federal law:
Non-legislative actors’ purported amendments to States’ duly enacted election laws, in violation of the Electors Clause’s vesting State legislatures with plenary authority regarding the appointment of presidential electors.
Intrastate differences in the treatment of voters, with more favorable allotted to voters – whether lawful or unlawful – in areas administered by local government under Democrat control and with populations with higher ratios of Democrat voters than other areas of Defendant States.
The appearance of voting irregularities in the Defendant States that would be consistent with the unconstitutional relaxation of ballot-integrity protections in those States’ election laws.
Texas approached the Supreme Court directly because Article III provides that it is the court of first impression on subjects where it has original jurisdiction, such as disputes between two or more states.
The Electors Clause in the U.S. Constitution states that only state legislatures may direct how states choose electors in the Electoral College. Election officials allegedly violated that clause by altering election procedures in violation of state law (enacted by the legislatures), ostensibly in order to help people vote during the coronavirus pandemic.
State elections officials also treated some voters more favorably in more Democratic-leaning areas of states, helped in that effort by the Center for Tech and Civic Life (CTCL), an organization that directed funds to election officials in such areas.
Finally, while many election officials relaxed voting standards in order to help voters worried about COVID-19, those relaxed standards made potential fraud more likely.
“All these flaws – even the violations of state election law – violate one or more of the federal requirements for elections (i.e., equal protection, due process, and the Electors Clause) and thus arise under federal law,” Paxton’s brief argues, citing Bush v. Gore (2000).
Michigan
The chairman of the Michigan House Oversight Committee has threatened Dominion Voting Systems CEO John Poulos with a subpoena if he doesn’t appear before the committee voluntarily.
State Rep. Matt Hall, a Republican, said in a Dec. 7 letter obtained by The Epoch Times that he sent a missive last month asking Poulos to testify before the committee.
“I have not received an answer to my request. I am writing again to request your appearance before the House Oversight Committee so that we can further investigate Dominion’s role in the election,” Hall wrote to Poulos in the new letter.
Hall said there have been a number of claims and accusations regarding Dominion’s software and the results of the election and that Poulos could help lawmakers and voters better understand the election software.
If Poulos cannot make it in person, testimony via Zoom would serve.
“If Dominion chooses to ignore this second request to come before the committee I am prepared to seek legislative subpoena power to compel your appearance before the House Oversight Committee,” Hall wrote. “I am hopeful that it would not come to this.”
Also in Michigan, the Trump campaign on Monday asked the state Supreme Court to review a legal challenge seeking “meaningful access” for poll challengers to observe ballot counting in the state.
The campaign is asking the state’s top court to declare that Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson violated the state’s constitution and election laws by permitting the counting of absentee ballots without meaningful access for poll challengers to observe the counting and processing.
They argue that Benson’s actions also violated voters’ constitutional right to fair and lawful elections.
“Michigan citizens’ constitutional rights are being violated by Secretary Benson’s failure to prevent unlawful ballots to be processed and her failure to ensure that statutorily-authorized challengers have a meaningful opportunity to observe and challenge the process,” the campaign wrote in its brief.
Arizona
On Monday Rep. Daniel McCarthy said that state legislators have invoked Article 2, Section 1 meaning Arizona is officially a contested election.
Arizona House Majority Leader Warren Petersen released a statement saying: “The election should not have been certified with the number of irregularities and allegations of fraud. Especially troubling to me are the allegations surrounding the vendor Dominion. It is imperative that a forensic audit occur immediately of the equipment and software. Upon any showing of fraud the legislature should immediately convene to decertify the vote.”
Last week Arizona Rep. Mark Finchem issued a call to withhold the state’s Electoral College votes for Joe Biden because “he believes there is enough significant evidence of fraud to invalidate the state’s votes.”
Georgia
Lawyer Sidney Powell said on Monday that she hopes her lawsuit in Georgia will be heard by the U.S. Supreme Court.
Powell told Newsmax that U.S. District Court Judge Timothy Batten “wouldn’t pay attention” to her lawsuit, saying Batten “had made up his mind before he hit the bench, and he read from prepared notes when he granted the motion to dismiss.”
Powell confirmed she will appeal, and “we expect to get relief in the Supreme Court.”
“We’re determined to win because the American people have been defrauded from their lawful votes in this election, and that cannot stand,” she added.
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