At some point, a line must be drawn between what is legal, but awful behavior, and what is downright treasonous.
33 days after the AP called the 2020 presidential election for Joe Biden, 126 House Republicans signed on to an amicus brief supporting a Texas lawsuit seeking to overturn the election results in the states of Georgia, Michigan, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin.
Texas’s suit, filed with the Supreme Court, argued that Georgia, Michigan, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin violated Article II, Section 1 of the U.S. Constitution which says, “The president of the Senate shall, in the presence of the Senate and House of Representatives, open all the certificates, and the votes shall then be counted.”
Texas argued that changes made to the voting process in these four states, due to the COVID-19 pandemic, resulted in “significant and unconstitutional irregularities” that made it impossible to know who won the elections in these states and therefore who won the presidential election.
On December 11, the Supreme Court issued a one page order throwing out the Texas lawsuit on the grounds that Texas lacked standing to pursue the case because it had not demonstrated a "judicially cognizable interest in the manner in which another State conducts its elections."
However, prior to the court’s order issued with no public dissent, there were numerous tells that the Texas suit was going nowhere and was solely a blatant attempt to subvert the will of the America people.
Prior to the 2020 election, 12 states expanded absentee/mail voting eligibility due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Among these states where the deep red states of Alabama, Arkansas, Kentucky, Mississippi and South Carolina.
When Texas sued to block election results over changes to voting procedures, it did not sue all the states that adjusted voting methods due to the pandemic. Texas sued only four swing states that all voted for Biden and helped secured his election victory.
Texas was not concerned about possible fraud in states that voted for Trump, or were reliably for Biden, but was only concerned with trying to overturn the election results in swing states that voted for Biden.
Furthermore, the allegations in the Texas suit contradicted President Trump’s own Attorney General who made clear that the Justice Department uncovered no evidence of widespread voter fraud that could change the outcome of the 2020 election.
Therefore, the obvious absurdity of the Texas suit begs the question, why did 126 House Republicans support it?
Remember, Texas was challenging all the elections that took place in Georgia, Michigan, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin - not just the presidential election.
That means, at least 16 House Republicans signed on to support a lawsuit that was seeking to throw out their own election victories.
If any elected official believes that they were voted in fraudulently, they have an obligation to refuse to be sworn in.
In addition, if any elected official believes it is acceptable to throw out the votes of over 20 million people, with virtually no evidence of fraud, they should not be able to take office.
Section 3 of the 14th Amendment disqualifies elected officials who, “have engaged in insurrection or rebellion” against the U.S. By attempting to disenfranchise over 20 million people who lawfully voted, at least 126 House Republicans are attacking American democracy and violating the U.S. Constitution.
The Democrat controlled House must absolutely not swear in any of the 126 House Republicans who signed on to the amicus brief supporting Texas’s lawsuit.
Article 1, Section 5 of the Constitution gives each chamber of Congress the authority to decide their membership.
If the House allows anyone to be sworn in who has challenged the will of the people, they are helping to destroy confidence in our democracy and the rule of law.
It is very likely that House Democrats will just let the dangerous behavior of their colleagues go unanswered, but if Democrats continue to let Republican run roughshod over America’s democratic norms and institutions, one day, they will no longer hold.
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