More than 60% of House Republicans support pro-Trump lawsuit overturning election results
WASHINGTON – More House Republicans on Friday joined the long list of congressional lawmakers supporting a longshot lawsuit asking the Supreme Court to invalidate election decisions in several key states in hopes of overturning Joe Biden's win over President Donald Trump.
On Friday night, the Supreme Court rejected the lawsuit on the grounds Texas did not have standing to bring it.
"Texas has not demonstrated a judicially cognizable interest in the manner in which another state conducts its elections," the court said in a brief order.
The addition of 20 House Republicans supporting the lawsuit means 126 members, or about 64%, of the entire House Republican conference supported Trump’s attempts to invalidate Biden's win, using baseless allegations of widespread voter fraud as their reasoning.
The additional members include the highest ranking Republican in the House, Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif. Other members of House Republican leadership to sign on include Reps. Steve Scalise, who serves as Minority Whip, and Tom Emmer, who chairs the National Republican Congressional Committee. No senators have signed on to the effort and several have been deeply critical of the effort.
Rep. Mike Johnson, R-La., who shepherded the effort, said the 20 members added Friday were initially not included on the amicus brief the previous day due to a “clerical error.”
“Because the Framers recognized elections could be corrupted or stolen, they created the Electoral College as a safeguard and empowered state legislatures to ensure the integrity of our unique election system,” the amicus brief states. “Yet before the 2020 election, rationalized in some instances by the occasion of the novel coronavirus pandemic, the constitutional authority of state legislatures was simply usurped by various governors, state courts, state election officials, and others.”
More: Supreme Court challenge to election results turns into bitter war between the states
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The lawsuit the group supported asks the Supreme Court to block Pennsylvania, Georgia, Michigan and Wisconsin from casting their electoral votes for Biden, which is set to happen Monday. The suit was ground zero in Trump’s battle over the election results, spurring involvement from nearly every state in the country, either in support or against.
Lawmakers who signed on to the brief defended the effort, arguing their aim is to protect the Constitution after they say election officials made changes to how the election operated without approval of state legislatures while also arguing about the integrity of signature vetting on mail-in ballots.
"The Constitution is clear; Election Officials and State Executives cannot change the people's presidential election process without the state legislature," Rep. Elise Stefanik, R-N.Y., wrote on Twitter. "Additionally, it is unconstitutional to refuse to check signatures on mail-in ballots if the state law explicitly states that they must be checked. We are requesting that the Supreme Court carefully review the lawsuit and provide clarity."
More: President Trump seeks to join Supreme Court lawsuit challenging election results in 4 key states
Rep. Dan Crenshaw, R-Texas, and another lawmaker supporting the lawsuit, echoed Stefanik's thoughts and dismissed criticism of the effort.
"The left-wing outrage is predictably over the top," he wrote on Twitter. "My personal hope is that drawing additional attention to it forces states to clean up their act, and adopt far better and more secure systems going forward that will garner the kind of faith in our elections our nation so desperately needs."
While a majority of House Republicans are backing the effort, plenty of lawmakers within the party have come out in opposition of the effort – some even calling it dangerous.
“This brief ... represents a dangerous challenge to federalism and would set a precedent in which one state is attempting to infringe upon another state’s electoral process and legal systems,” said Rep. Tom Reed, R-NY. “I cannot support such an effort.”
Some Senate Republicans have similarly criticized the effort. Sen. Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska, said she was "really surprised and disappointed" to see so many House Republicans and states support the lawsuit.
Sen. Lamar Alexander, a retiring Republican representing Tennessee, blasted the lawsuit, telling NBC News the positions outlined in filing didn't "sound like a very Republican argument to me."
"I mean, our position, my position, Republicans believe that states are in charge of elections. And Texas is a big state, but I don't know exactly why it has a right to tell four other states how to run their elections," he said. "So I'm having a hard time figuring out the basis for that lawsuit."
The Supreme Court was expected Friday to rule within days, if not hours, and it did, releasing it's answer to the suit shortly before 7 p.m. ET
Election Day was 37 days ago; by that time in 2000, the high court had issued its decision in Bush v. Gore, a legal battle over Florida's 537-vote margin that put George W. Bush in the White House.
By contrast, Biden's 306 electoral votes equaled Trump's total in 2016, and Biden won the popular vote by more than 7 million.
Contributing: Richard Wolf
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: More House Republicans sign on to lawsuit aimed at overturning election