Nebraska Sen. Ben Sasse on Thursday slammed Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton’s election challenge pending at the Supreme Court, predicting that the court would dismiss it.
“I suspect the Supreme Court swats this away,” Sasse told the Washington Examiner.
Sasse added that, to him, it looked like Paxton filed a “PR stunt rather than a lawsuit,” in an attempt to gain “a pardon” from President Trump. Paxton is currently the subject of an FBI investigation for illegally using the power of his office to benefit Austin real estate developer Nate Paul.
Sasse noted that the lawsuit, in which Paxton said that officials in Pennsylvania, Georgia, Michigan, and Wisconsin “tainted the integrity” of the presidential election with mail-in ballots, does not cover any new ground in election litigation.
“Its assertations have already been rejected by federal courts and Texas’ own solicitor general isn’t signing on,” Sasse said.
Sasse, one of Trump’s most vocal Republican critics, in the past has not shied away from taking issue with the president. The Washington Examiner in October obtained audio of the senator criticizing Trump’s “stupid political obsessions.” Sasse added that Trump “kisses dictators’ butts,” “sells out our allies,” spends “like a drunken sailor,” treats women poorly, and insults evangelicals behind their backs.
Sasse throughout the general election campaign emphasized to Republicans that maintaining Senate control was more important than ensuring that Trump win reelection. After the election, Sasse, along with Utah Sen. Mitt Romney, slammed Trump’s legal team, claiming that the president and his allies had little basis for their allegations of election fraud.
“Based on what I’ve read in their filings, when Trump campaign lawyers have stood before courts under oath, they have repeatedly refused to actually allege grand fraud — because there are legal consequences for lying to judges,” Sasse said in a November statement.
The latest Supreme Court case, which Texas filed late Monday night, is the latest in a series of last-ditch efforts from Trump to question President-elect Joe Biden’s win. The court docketed it Tuesday and requested that legal representatives for the four states respond by Thursday afternoon. Texas will then have a chance to reply, and the court is expected to make a decision shortly afterward.
Texas Sen. Ted Cruz confirmed to the Washington Examiner that, if the court accepts the case, he will present arguments on behalf of Trump, who filed a motion to intervene Wednesday afternoon. Seventeen states threw their support behind Paxton on Wednesday.
The Supreme Court on Tuesday denied an injunction in a similar case brought forward by Pennsylvania Rep. Mike Kelly, who asked it to throw out the state’s mail-in ballots. The court delivered its decision on the same day as the so-called “safe harbor deadline,” the date after which the Supreme Court has previously indicated that it will not consider election disputes.
