Tennessee joins in legal brief supporting Texas voting lawsuit against swing states. Understanding what all of this means.

Tennessee joins other red states in legal brief supporting Texas voting lawsuit against swing states

by Natalie Allison, Nashville Tennessean -

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There is a lot of misunderstanding and misinformation about the law suite before the Supreme Court. The below was posted to Facebook by Judson Phillips, a highly respected local attorney whose expertise I respect.

By Judson Phillips. 

There is a lot of misinformation floating around about the Texas case in the Supreme Court. 

1. Texas has NOT filed suit against the defendant states. 

2. What Texas has done is ask the Supreme Court for permission to file the lawsuit. 

3. The case is on the docket now, but that does not mean the Supreme Court will necessarily hear the case. 

4. The Supreme Court has ordered (6-3) that the respondent states file their answers by 3PM Thursday.

5. Presumably late Thursday or early Friday, the Justices will have a conference. There are several possible outcomes. 

6. The first outcome is the Supreme Court denies Texas' request to file suit. If that happens, Biden has pretty much won. 

7. They could grant the request to file the suit in the Supreme Court. That is important ( given the 6-3 vote). Ordinarily for the Supreme Court to grant certiorari (agreeing the hear an appeal), it takes 4 justices to vote for the petition. Because the Supreme Court has original jurisdiction in a lawsuit between the states, I am not sure if they will need 4 or 5 votes. 

8. The really important issue here is that Texas is asking for an injunction to prevent those states from submitting the disputed electors to the electoral college. If the Justices do not agree to an injunction, the Electoral College will meet on Monday and Joe Biden will officially be the President elect. 

9. If they enjoin the states from submitting the disputed electors, either the state legislatures will have to submit electors or neither candidate will have 270 votes and the matter will go to the House of Representatives for contingent election. 

10. The Electoral College is a creation of the Constitution. The Supreme Court cannot change that. But the date the Electoral College meets is set by statute, and the Supreme Court can enjoin that. 

11. The injunction issue is the big issue to watch here. Because the Electoral College is set to meet on December 14 (Monday), the Supreme Court will have to issue some ruling, most likely on Friday. 

Again, if the injunction is granted, that is a pretty good signal that Texas (and Trump) will prevail. If not, it will be Biden Harris on January 20.

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