President Donald Trump is pinning his electoral hopes on a long-shot lawsuit from Texas' attorney general. Photo / AP
US President Donald Trump says a new election lawsuit from Texas is "the big one" in his fight to overturn his defeat to Joe Biden.
The lawsuit in question is led by Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton and has won support from the attorneys general of 17 Republican states, and the US Supreme Court has indicated it will be dealt with quickly.
Paxton's plan is to sue Georgia, Michigan, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin in the US Supreme Court.
He argues that the states in question "exploited the Covid-19 pandemic" to enact "last-minute changes" to their electoral rules, "skewing" the outcome of the election.
Professor Rick Hasen, an election law expert at the University of California, said Paxton's lawsuit may be "the dumbest case I've ever seen filed on an emergency basis at the Supreme Court.
"What utter garbage. Dangerous garbage, but garbage."
The one fundamental problem with the case, according to legal experts, is that Texas has no ability to raise Paxton's claims in court, because it has no say over how other states conduct their elections. Pennsylvania does not get to sue Texas if it doesn't like how that state's system works, and vice versa.
The Supreme Court has asked for responses to Paxton's filing by tomorrow, which suggests this case will move very quickly.
We've already had one such response - a brief filed by the 17 Republican attorneys - in support of Texas's position.
"The allegations raise important constitutional issues," the brief argues.
"They also raise serious concerns relating to election integrity and public confidence in elections.
"These are questions of great public importance that warrant this court's attention."
That brief doesn't change any of the legal arguments, but it does give Paxton's petition a little bit more weight.
Experts are convinced that the lawsuit will quickly fail, but Trump evidently remains hopeful.
Thousands packed into St Peter’s Square and cheered as the new pope appeared.