Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton is suing Pennsylvania, Georgia, Michigan, and Wisconsin in the United States Supreme Court. However, the legal challenge came on the same day the US Supreme Court rejected a separate Republican bid led by US Rep Mike Kelly to reverse the state's certification of President-elect Joe Biden.
Read the US Supreme Court order that rejected the Republican challenge here.
Pennsylvania's Attorney General responded to the Texas lawsuit calling it 'beyond meritless,' claiming it's a 'scheme by the President of the United States and some in the Republican party to disregard the will of the people and name their own victors.'
Tuesday marks the 'safe harbor' deadline across the country. The safe harbor deadline falls six days before electors cast their votes in the electoral college and it is the day that states who haven't certified ballots normally work to clear up any outstanding legal challenges remaining in the election.
The act was established to make sure any fights over electors were resolved in order to make sure that votes cast by the chosen electors will be 'conclusive.' In other words, it is a safeguard so that election results will not be overturned.
The Electoral College casts their ballots December 14 and Congress counts electoral votes January 6.
Paxton sued the four battleground election states claiming all four exploited the COVID-19 pandemic to justify ignoring federal and state election laws and unlawfully enacting last-minute changes, thus skewing the results of the 2020 General Election.
Paxton also claims the states "flooded their people with unlawful ballot applications and ballots while ignoring statutory requirements as to how they were received, evaluated and counted."
Shapiro countered, "this isn't a pick your own ending novel -- this is a Democracy."
Read the full statement from the Texas Attorney General here.
Read Pennsylvania Attorney General's full statement here:
"These continued attacks on our fair and free election system are beyond meritless, beyond reckless -- they are a scheme by the President of the United States and some in the Republican party to disregard the will of the people-- and name their own victors. This isn't a pick your own ending novel -- this is a Democracy. These attempts are uniquely unserious-- nothing has worked in court, in the legislature, and now the Texas Attorney General is seeking to just throw out the electoral votes all together in four fellow states. These factless, baseless "lawsuits" to stir confusion and doubt in our systems are un-American and we should not allow this circus to continue."