Eric Schmitt, the attorney general from Missouri, announced on Twitter late Tuesday that his state is “in the fight” after Texas announced its election challenge that would invalidate the 62 Electoral College votes from four battleground states and award President Trump with a second term.
“Election integrity is central to our republic,” Schmitt, a Republican, tweeted. “And I will defend it at every turn. As I have in other cases—I will help lead the effort in support of Texas’ #SCOTUS filing today. Missouri is in the fight.”
Schmitt’s tweet came shortly after Ken Paxton, the attorney general from Texas, explained his motivation behind the suit to Fox News’ ‘Hannity.’
He said that election management in Georgia, Michigan, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin—the states named in the suit—directly impacted voters in the his state. In particular, he pointed to changes that were made to expand mail-in voting amid the coronavirus pandemic.
“If other states don’t follow the Constitution and if their state legislature isn’t responsible for overseeing their elections … it affects my state,” he said. “Our job is to make sure the Constitution is followed and that every vote counts. And in this case, I’m not sure every vote was counted. Not in the right way.”
Paxton’s case stands on the grounds of Article II of the Constitution, which mandates state legislatures have the sole authority to manage and change election processes — a clause he aims to prove was ignored during the 2020 election.
The states named in the lawsuit called Paxton’s suit a political stunt and downplayed its chances to be successful. Paul Smith, a professor and election law expert at Georgetown University’s law school, told Reuters that there is “no possible way the state of Texas has standing to complain about how other states counted the votes and how they are about to cast their electoral votes.”
Attorneys general from Louisiana, Arkansas and other states have reportedly announced their support of the lawsuit.
The high court on Tuesday separately rejected another plea to intervene in the election, from Pennsylvania Republicans who wanted the court to undo the certification of Biden’s victory in the state.
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Jenna Ellis, a senior legal adviser for Trump’s campaign, tried to clarify the court’s ruling in a later tweet, and said it only denied an “emergency injunctive relief. In the order, it did NOT deny cert” and the suit from Rep. Mike Kelly, R-Pa., is still pending before the court.
Fox News’ Angelica Stabile and the Associated Press contributed to this report
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