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- A small group of House Republicans and Republican attorneys general have publicly disagreed with the latest election lawsuit filed by Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton.
- Republican attorneys general in Idaho, Ohio, and Georgia have declined to support the lawsuit.
- Sen. Mitt Romney called the lawsuit, “simply madness.”
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A small minority of GOP lawmakers have opposed the last-ditch move to undo the election and throw out votes in Pennsylvania, Wisconsin, Michigan, and Georgia, as a majority of House Republicans and 17 state attorneys general have signed onto a lawsuit filed by Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton.
Idaho’s Republican Attorney General Lawrence Wasden issued a statement distancing himself from the case, and said, “I am declining to join this effort. As is sometimes the case, the legally correct decision may not be the politically convenient decision. But my responsibility is to the State of Idaho and the rule of law.”
This week, at least 106 Republicans in the House of Representatives submitted an amicus brief in support of the case to the US Supreme Court. If the case is taken up by the Supreme Court, Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas has agreed to argue the case before the court.
The list of signatories is publicly supporting the outgoing president’s dwindling efforts to essentially throw out votes in the 2020 election and have GOP-led state legislatures appoint pro-Trump electors in battleground states decide the outcome.
On Wednesday, Sen. John Cornyn of Texas signaled a contrast with the Texas attorney general and Cruz. Cornyn told CNN, “I read just the summary of it, and I frankly struggle to understand the legal theory of it.”
Cornyn added, "Number one, why would a state, even such a great state as Texas, have a say-so on how other states administer their elections?"
Similarly, Wasden said that his rejection was a matter of respect for state sovereignty, and "Likewise, Idaho should respect the sovereignty of its sister states." Idaho's Republican Party said it would sign an amicus brief in support of the Texas lawsuit.
Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost filed a brief with the US Supreme Court on Thursday opposing elements of the Texas lawsuit, after more than 40 Ohio GOP lawmakers urged him to have Ohio join the suit.
In his brief, Yost wrote that "The relief that Texas seeks would undermine a foundational premise of our federalist system: the idea that the States are sovereigns, free to govern themselves."
Yost continued, "The courts have no more business ordering the People's representatives how to choose electors than they do ordering the People themselves how to choose their dinners." Later in the brief, however, Yost encouraged the Supreme Court to rule on whether the election changes at the state level are unconstitutional.
On Thursday, veteran Republican Rep. Kay Granger of Texas stated that she was not supportive of her state's lawsuit, telling CNN, "I'm not supporting it," later adding, "I don't think it's going to go anywhere, and ... it's a distraction."
Sen. Mitt Romney called the lawsuit, "simply madness."
Rep. Chip Roy, a Texas congressman-elect said that he wouldn't sign on and publicly called the brief "a dangerous violation of federalism," and said the effort "will almost certainly fail."
Georgia Attorney General Chris Carr split with the Trump camp as well, stating to The Atlanta Journal-Constitution that the lawsuit is "constitutionally, legally, and factually wrong." His public stance on Wednesday was reportedly met with a fiery 15-minute phone call from Trump where he asked Carr not to rally other Republicans against the suit, according to AJC.
Legal experts say that the suit is likely to fail due to the recycling of previously thrown-out baseless claims about the election. Democratic attorneys generals from Washington, DC, and 22 states and territories filed a brief opposing Texas's effort.