Trump and 17 US states back Texas bid to undo his election loss at supreme court

Donald Trump on Wednesday, Dec 9, asked the US Supreme Court to let him join a long-shot lawsuit by Texas seeking to overturn his election loss by throwing out the voting results in four states.

The litigation also drew support from 17 other states.

In a court filing, Trump asked to intervene in the Texas lawsuit, the latest litigation to try to undo Democratic President-elect Joe Biden’s victory in the Nov. 3 election.

In a separate brief, lawyers for 17 states led by Missouri’s Republican Attorney General Eric Schmitt also urged the nine justices to hear the case.

In addition to Missouri, the states joining Texas were: Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Indiana, Kansas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Montana, Nebraska, North Dakota, Oklahoma, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee, Utah and West Virginia.

All of the states were represented by Republican officials in the filing. All but three of the states have Republican governors.

Previous efforts in the courts on behalf of Trump challenging the election results so far have failed.

The lawsuit, announced on Tuesday December 8, by the Republican attorney general of Texas Ken Paxton, targeted four states that Trump lost to Biden after winning them in the 2016 election. Trump has falsely claimed he won re-election and has made allegations of widespread voting fraud. Election officials at the state level have said they have found no evidence of such fraud.

Writing on Twitter earlier Wednesday December 9, Trump said, “We will be INTERVENING in the Texas (plus many other states) case. This is the big one. Our Country needs a victory!”

Election law experts have said the Texas lawsuit stands little chance of success and lacks legal merit.