Texas’s lawsuit against Michigan, Pennsylvania, Wisconsin, and Georgia was an unserious piece of litigation the moment it was filed. But it just keeps getting worse.
On Thursday, two “states” that do not exist — “New Nevada” and “New California” — joined the suit in hopes that the Supreme Court will take up the matter. The two parties, which claim to be legitimate jurisdictions but are not, claim they, too, were “directly impacted by the arbitrary and capricious changes in election laws and procedures” made by California and Nevada officials.
Like the original Texas lawsuit, this filing makes a few fair points about mail-in voting, the potential for voter fraud, and the way in which Nevada and California officials conducted their respective elections. But in no sane world does “New Nevada” or “New California” have the right to claim original jurisdiction and ask the Supreme Court to intervene. In fact, they have no legal standing to do anything because they aren’t states and do not exist!
It’s highly unlikely that even Texas, an actual state, will be granted legal standing, given the nature of its complaint. Texas, which has now been joined by 17 other actual states, 106 Republican members of Congress, and President Trump’s legal team, is arguing that the entire presidential election was compromised because Michigan, Pennsylvania, Wisconsin, and Georgia officials changed their election laws in a questionable manner. There are many problems with this argument, the first being that Texas’s own governor did exactly the same thing, extending the early voting period for the 2020 election via an executive order.
The biggest problem with this lawsuit, however, is its legal premise. Just because Texas has a problem with the way other states administer their elections does not mean it has the standing to take those other states to court. The proper forum for this dispute is the political process at both the state and federal levels, not the Supreme Court. Why? Because this lawsuit is a political matter, not a legal one. The addition of “New Nevada” and “New California” to the mix just makes the whole thing even sillier than it was before.
