Speaking of clown acts . . .

Erick Erickson, once of RedState fame, pursued more fame being a NeverTrumper, and obviously still is.  He continues to beclown himself (his favorite word in this commentary) in the eyes of this legal observer — failing to point out that HAVA and various Supreme Court decisions intrude on state election laws already. Further, that amicus briefs frequently, indeed as a matter of course, — ignore, supplement, provide alternative arguments regarding the case that is before the court. By Erickson’s light, conservatives are forbidded equal protection claims and other remedies used by the left all the time. Erickson dismisses sound constitutional claims like the Trump hater he is and of the people that do not accept his holier than thou demeanor.

About the Texas Lawsuit

Ken Paxton, the Attorney General of Texas, is under a federal investigation and would love a presidential pardon. His lawsuit is just more performative leg humping by someone desperate to curry favor with President Trump.

The various attorneys general who have joined his lawsuit all want to either get re-elected or seek higher office. Joining the lawsuit gives them some measure of ring kissing or protection from any rabid Trump supporters who wanted a “just fight” moment.

I personally think my company should pay me workers compensation for brain damage for having to read that lawsuit and related filings. It really is one of the stupidest bits of performative leg humping we have seen in the last five years. These attorneys general are willing to beclown themselves and their states all to get in good with the losing presidential candidate.

The suit is absurd on its face. These states seek to interfere in the internal affairs of other states when those states are not actually electing the President, but allowing their voters to chose members of the Electoral College.

Were this to succeed, which it will not, the states will start suing each other at every election as a bit of theater.

Let me explain just how absurd this case is:

    • Texas can cite no cases at all in its claim that it has standing to sue the states for the administration of their own internal elections.
    • Texas alleges the other states changed election laws due to the pandemic without the legislature’s blessing. You know one state not being sued that did that? Texas.
    • The states allege it is illegal to count ballots received after election day. Several of the states making that claim also do that.
    • Their expert argues a sign of voter fraud is that it is not likely Trump 2016 voters would vote for Biden in 2020. The expert also uses dubious statistical modeling comparing Clinton to Biden.
    • The Missouri amicus all but says they don’t necessarily agree with Texas’s legal statements, but the case is so important the Supreme Court should hear it.
    • Texas could not even get its Solicitor General — the man who argues on behalf of the state before the Supreme Court — to sign onto the lawsuit. That’s how frivolous it is.

This will persuade the fool and the gullible, but these are not meritorious arguments, particularly when many of the states on the plaintiff’s side of the lawsuit have done similar things and thus have unclean hands.

The level of debasement these people have been willing to engage in makes them seem more the ball-gagged gimp from Pulp Fiction, humiliating themselves for their master. They should be ashamed and embarrassed.

The bottom line is this — the voters of states must act within their own states and be responsible for their own elections. Texas does not get to dictate the internal affairs of other states particularly when Texas is not directly impacted by a fellow semi-sovereign nation within these united States of America choosing its own members of the Electoral College. The remedy is not the Supreme Court’s intervention on behalf of some sore losers, but challenging the electors in the House of Representatives, which these people know is a fight they will lose. But they already know that is the remedy too.

If Texas were to win this, it would dissolve the horizontal federalism of our union and only expand the powers of the federal government. It would also lead to a Civil War as a handful of states overturn the rules and laws of other states and dictate those states’ internal affairs. Wait for Gavin Newsom and Andrew Cuomo to give this precedent a whirl. Wait for progressive states to start suing conservative states over religious liberty, transgender rights, police brutality, tax policies that “steal” residents of progressive states, etc.

If voters in Georgia are outraged with the outcome in Georgia, their remedy is not for Texas to save them from themselves, but for them to save themselves by moving to Texas or voting differently in the next election. Even the voters of Georgia do not constitutionally have the right to sue their own state for the general enforcement of election laws. Other states surely stand in even a worse position.

Empowering Texas in this case just empowers progressive states to do the same later. The mere filing of this case sets a dangerous precedent. Ultimately, however, the Supreme Court is unlikely to give Texas what is wishes and Ken Paxton perhaps will not get his pardon.

I’m really tired of the Republican Party beclowning itself for a losing candidate out of fear for that candidate’s voters. That is all this is and delusions of fools notwithstanding, despite all sorts of stupid arguments being wrapped in pomp and “equal protection” phraseology, the election is over and Joe Biden will be President-Elect officially next week.

Guys, come on — you’re just going to spark crazy to violence at this point. The election wasn’t stolen and most of you know it and those of you who don’t know it need to, at some point, realize you’ve been lied to. And frankly, Ken Paxton needs to work on repentance for a whole lot of stuff.

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