Texas v. Pennsylvania
2020 United States Supreme Court case
Texas v. Pennsylvania, 592 U.S. ___ (2020), was a lawsuit filed at the United States Supreme Court contesting the administration of the 2020 presidential election in four states in which Joe Biden defeated then-incumbent president Donald Trump.
Filed by Texas state attorney general Ken Paxton on December 8, 2020, under the Supreme Court's original jurisdiction, the lawsuit alleged that Georgia, Michigan, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin violated the United States Constitution by changing election procedures through non-legislative means – thus violating the independent state legislature theory. The suit sought to temporarily withhold the certified vote count from these four states prior to the Electoral College vote on December 14. The suit was filed after over 60 lawsuits arising from disputes over the election results filed by Trump and the Republican Party had failed in numerous state and federal courts.
The suit had been drafted by a team of lawyers with ties to the Trump presidential campaign. Paxton agreed to file the case after other state attorneys general declined to do so. The solicitor general of Texas Kyle D. Hawkins objected to the suit and refused to let his name be added. Paxton hired Lawrence J. Joseph, who had helped draft the suit, as special counsel to assist with the suit.
Within one day of Texas's filing, Trump, over 100 Republican representatives, and 18 Republican state attorneys general filed motions to support the case.
“Texas v. Pennsylvania” enters the record as 2020 United States Supreme Court case. Crown Archives preserves that source wording while asking what Texas, Pennsylvania and United can confirm, complicate or overturn.
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