Vice President Mike Pence said the Supreme Court should hear a Texas election challenge because President Trump “deserves his day in court.”
“All I can say is God bless Texas,” Pence said at a Thursday rally in Augusta, Georgia, where he headed to shore up support for Republican Sens. Kelly Loeffler and David Perdue, who are facing runoff elections from Democratic competitors, according to Fox News.
During the rally, Pence spoke about the litigation spearheaded by Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton that targets four states that President-elect Joe Biden won (Georgia, Michigan, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin) and asks the Supreme Court to overturn the results.
The vice president pointed out that several states have signed on to support the legal action. “So far, just in the last few days, 18 states have joined the Lone Star State to defend the integrity of our elections before the highest court in the land,” he said.
“President Donald Trump deserves his day in court, the Supreme Court,” Pence continued. “We’re going to keep fighting until every legal vote is counted. We’re going to keep fighting until every illegal vote is thrown out. And we will never stop fighting to make America great again.”
Officials in the states that are named in the lawsuits have pushed back against the legal action from Texas, which they have characterized as frivolous.
Wisconsin Attorney General Josh Kaul attacked the Supreme Court challenge as having “no merit” and opined that Texas “does not have a cognizable interest” in Wisconsin’s election procedures.
“Given all these facts, it is no surprise that Texas fails to establish any of the requisite factors necessary for granting preliminary relief,” Kaul said in a Thursday response. “It has no likelihood of success on the merits of its clams, and the harm and public interest factors strongly weigh in favor of denying the extraordinary relief Texas seeks — stripping millions of voters of the choice they made.”
Sen. Ted Cruz also may also play a role in the case. A spokeswoman for the Texas Republican confirmed to the Washington Examiner this week that Trump asked him to argue the case personally if the Supreme Court decides to take it up. Cruz agreed to the request.
