CASPER, Wyo. (AP) - Wyoming will not join Republican-led states in asking the U.S. Supreme Court to hear a lawsuit filed by Texas questioning election procedures in states where Democrat Joe Biden won in November, Gov. Mark Gordon said Thursday.
“After significant consideration we believe that the case could have unintended consequences relating to a constitutional principle that the state of Wyoming holds dear - that states are sovereign, free to govern themselves,” Gordon said in a statement.
Wyoming supports Texas’ right to raise issues involving the U.S. Constitution, and President Donald Trump has a right to bring electoral issues for resolution in the U.S. judicial system, Gordon said.
However, Texas didn’t ask Wyoming to join the lawsuit and didn’t provide notice that could have given Wyoming time to “thoughtfully consider” the states’ brief before it was filed Wednesday, Gordon said.
Wyoming will weigh in on the case should the Supreme Court agree to hear it, Gordon said.
Thirty-two seated and newly elected Wyoming state legislators on Wednesday signed a letter asking Gordon to join the lawsuit seeking to invalidate Electoral College votes in Georgia, Michigan, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin. Wyoming’s GOP-dominated Legislature has a total of 60 state representatives and 30 state senators.
Gordon responded to the letter by asking Wyoming Attorney General Bridget Hill to look into the case filed in Texas, the Casper Star-Tribune reported.
Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton, a Republican, demanded in the lawsuit that the 62 Electoral College votes in the four states be invalidated. That would be enough to swing the election to Trump.
Seventeen Republican-led states have asked the high court to hear the Texas case.
Trump has repeatedly made unsupported claims of election fraud in the four states. Paxton’s lawsuit repeats numerous false, disproven and unsupported allegations of illegal mail-in balloting and voting.
Republican state Sen. Bo Biteman of Ranchester authored the letter to Gordon, arguing that the states “compromised the security and integrity of the 2020 election.”
The letter was signed by 11 senators, two newly elected senators, 12 representatives and seven newly elected representatives in Wyoming.
Trump said Wednesday that his campaign will join the case. The U.S. Supreme Court asked for responses by Thursday.
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