Texas – Don’t Mess with America!
So, Texas Republican Attorney General Ken Paxton filed a lawsuit in the US Supreme Court to invalidate presidential election results in Pennsylvania, Georgia, Wisconsin and Michigan. I had several emotional reactions when I heard this news, and my brain was on the edge of exploding. Paxton’s suit claims that “unlawful election results” took place in those four states where President-elect Joe Biden won, and he contends those results should be declared unconstitutional. The filing argues that the four states used the coronavirus pandemic as an excuse to unlawfully change their election rules.
It’s incredible that Ken Paxton would promote a legal lie to gain Donald John Trump’s favor. Why might Paxton want to butter up Trump? Well, it seems that Mr. Paxton is allegedly under investigation by the FBI for bribery and abuse of office. This could be the start of an ultimate quid pro quo; you help me stay in office and I’ll give you a pardon. Trump sees himself as the candy man, passing out pardons to people he likes just like a kid hands over Tootsie Rolls to his friends on the playground.
I have just started reading the book, So You Want to Talk About Race by Ijeoma Oluo. In the preface, she talks about her frustration writing about race and racism. She says, “What many desperate publishers and editors reached for was outrage, controversy, fear, and hatred. And while these tactics worked, even as readers clicked on these links and read voraciously, they began to feel like they were being played.”
She’s right. We get sucked into absurd premises and lies that the media amplifies, only to walk away with either of two feelings. One, like my good friend Howard Stern recently said to me, “The whole world has gone crazy!” Two, we begin believing there could very well be something there to FEAR.

Many of us are anxious about what Donald John Trump might do next. It’s a terrible feeling to have about the most powerful person in the country, but his latest, vague tweet gives me a measure of trepidation, “We will be INTERVENING in the Texas (plus many other states) case. This is the big one. Our Country needs a victory!” What the hell does he think he’s going to do, dismiss the Supreme Court?
Perhaps Mr. Trump intends to present his immoral offer to the Supremes in person. This just in, Ken Paxton is the guest of dishonor at the White House today (12-10-2020), and I am sure his conversation with the President will not be recorded. I’m reminded of how former FBI Director James Comey described Trump’s demeanor when testifying under oath in a Congressional hearing. Comey said President Trump is an unethical leader and a liar who is driven by his ego, suggesting the man bears certain similarities to a mob leader. I’m sure that Godfather Trump will certainly convey to his capo, Mr. Paxton, his deep appreciation for helping him attempt a self-serving “victory.”
There’s a real possibility that Paxton waited too long to file the suit. The Latches Doctrine “bars recovery by the plaintiff because of the plaintiff’s undue delay in seeking relief.” One could ask that if the allegations in the suit were such a severe problem, why didn’t Texas mess with the four states before the election took place?
If you would like, read the tricky Texas lawsuit here. SCOTUSFiling I have carefully gone through it and I’ll share my thoughts, with a large, glowing caveat that I am not an attorney.
- The suit doesn’t explain HOW Texas has been harmed by other states revising their own election process. No suit was brought by either Republicans or Democrats in Pennsylvania, Georgia, Michigan, Wisconsin or Texas at the time voting changes were made.
- Texas claims that a state’s sovereign rights over their election cannot be altered, while also alleging that Texas’ rights were. That seems to argue the validity of those rights equally for all the states. If Texas holds the rights they claim are being violated, wouldn’t a judicial stay thwart those same rights of the other states?
- The suit makes a serious faux pas with the assumption that the court somehow has four justices who agree with them. This is arrogant, and if I were a Supreme Court justice I would be offended, but I would still look at whatever merits I could find. Paxton mentions the upcoming runoff election in Georgia. which has nothing to do with the Electoral College. As far as I can tell it’s just a glob of “hamburger helper.”
ERROR. The suit claims there are 72 Electors in the play, when it’s only 62, unless Paxton has some inside information on the 2020 Census. This is sloppy work and if I were a justice, I would have questions
Why should one state have any power over another state’s voting procedures? If this suit had an honest intention, states like Colorado or Nevada should also be involved. Paxton is showing his hand by trying to change only the result, rather than discounting mail in voting of all states.
In a glaring lack of empathy, this suit brushes off the COVID pandemic like it’s something that didn’t affect the lives of 15 million people and kill more than 280,000 Americans. What a brutal lack of empathy! The “significant departures” in election processes were reasonable because of the worst public crisis in over a hundred years. The suit states, “It does not matter that a judicial or executive officer sought to bypass that screening in response to the COVID pandemic; the choice was not theirs to make.” I understand that a crisis doesn’t freeze the Constitution, but after witnessing Donald Trump sign more than 197 executive orders in four years, it’s a given that the executive officer does have the right to impose changes without legislative approval. That’s why they are called EXECUTIVE ORDERS.
The intended trick of the suit is exposed within the suit itself. If the electors are not seated on the day prescribed in the Constitution, as the application states, each legislature could then take the reins and appoint electors. However, would it not be a tragic outcome if the millions of votes cast by Georgia, Wisconsin, Pennsylvania and Michigan citizens were to be discarded by overzealous, radical state legislators while being aided and abetted by the Supreme Court? Paxton’s own words said it best, the result would “strip away the fundamental rights of the voters,” not in his state but in the states, he is suing. Yes, Howard, the world has gone crazy.
THIS JUST IN: SUPREME COURT SAYS TEXAS ELECTION STEAL IS MOOT: 
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