Nessel Scoffs At Texas AG's Michigan Election Results Lawsuit

MICHIGAN — Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton on Tuesday filed a lawsuit against Michigan and three other states in the U.S. Supreme Court claiming the states exploited the COVID-19 pandemic to justify ignoring federal and state election laws while unlawfully enacting last-minute changes and skewing the Nov. 3 election.

But Dana Nessel, Michigan's attorney general, called the lawsuit a "publicity stunt," and not a serious legal pleading.

"The erosion of confidence in our democratic system isn’t attributable to the good people of Michigan, Wisconsin, Georgia or Pennsylvania but rather to partisan officials, like Mr. Paxton, who place loyalty to a person over loyalty to their country," Nessel said in response to the lawsuit. "The Michigan issues raised in this complaint have already been thoroughly litigated and roundly rejected in both state and federal courts — by judges appointed from both political parties. Mr. Paxton’s actions are beneath the dignity of the office of Attorney General and the people of the great state of Texas."

Paxton's lawsuit seeks a ruling that would call for election results in the mentioned states unconstitutional and stopping the respective states from choosing their electors based on popular vote.

The lawsuit said Michigan — as well as other key battleground states Georgia, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin, all of which were won by Democratic President-elect Joe Biden — flooded residents with unlawful ballot applications and ballots while ignoring requirements regarding how they were received, evaluated and counted.

“Trust in the integrity of our election processes is sacrosanct and binds our citizenry and the States in this Union together," Paxton said. "Georgia, Michigan, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin destroyed that trust and compromised the security and integrity of the 2020 election."

Michigan's decision to mail absentee ballot applications to voters was announced early this year by Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson. The decision was criticized by President Donald Trump, but upheld by two state courts.

Paxton further argued that the states violated statutes as well as the Constitution, tainting the integrity of "their own citizens' vote."

“Their failure to abide by the rule of law casts a dark shadow of doubt over the outcome of the entire election," Paxton said.

In addition to Nessel, other Michigan officials spoke out about Paxton's lawsuit. Michigan Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson was one of them.

"This lawsuit seems to suggest that the voters of Michigan messed with Texas," Benson tweeted Tuesday. "They didn't. Case closed."