Florida Attorney General files brief in support of Texas election lawsuit

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (WTXL) — Florida Attorney General Ashley Moody announced Wednesday that Florida will join the amicus brief in support of the Texas lawsuit against four states they allege violated federal law with their election procedures.

In a statement, Moody said:

"The integrity and resolution of the 2020 election is of paramount importance.

The United States Supreme Court should weigh the legal arguments of the Texas motion and all pending matters so that Americans can be assured the election was fairly reviewed and decided."

According to the Associated Press, the suit, filed by Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton, seeks to throw out the 62 total Electoral College votes from four states Biden won: Georgia, Michigan, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin.

To date, 17 states have joined in filing an amicus brief asking the Supreme Court to weigh in: Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Indiana, Kansas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, North Dakota, Oklahoma, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee, Utah and West Virginia.

Nikki Fried, the commissioner for Florida's Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services, responded to Moody's move Wednesday evening, calling the AG's decision "disappointing."

“It’s embarrassing to the integrity of our democracy and resolution of this election," said Fried. "It’s disappointing, but predictable that Florida’s Attorney General isn’t acting in the interest of the people she was elected to serve, but in self-interest to a president who lost an election and cannot face the reality of his defeat.”

Four justices must agree for the court to hear a case.

Article 3, Section 2 of the U.S. Constitution states that the Supreme Court can hear cases brought by one state against another without first going to a lower court.

Texas’ complaint claims that the states of Georgia, Michigan, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin “exploited the COVID-19 pandemic to justify ignoring federal and state election laws and unlawfully enact[ed] last-minute changes, thus skewing the results of the 2020 General Election. The battleground states flooded their people with unlawful ballot applications and ballots while ignoring statutory requirements as to 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,” the complaint states. “Georgia, Michigan, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin destroyed that trust and compromised the security and integrity of the 2020 election. The states violated statutes enacted by their duly elected legislatures, thereby violating the Constitution.”

President Donald Trump vowed to intervene in the Texas case, tweeting on Wednesday, "We will be INTERVENING in the Texas (plus many other states) case. This is the big one. Our Country needs a victory!"

Who would be intervening, and how, was not specified.