Show an ad over header. AMP  

106 House Republicans back Texas lawsuit to overturn election results

10 December 2020
 Dan Ackermann

106 House Republicans on Thursday signed a court filing in support of the Texas lawsuit that seeks to invalidate the millions of votes in four battleground states that President-elect Joe Biden won.

Why it matters: By signing the amicus brief, the GOP members are encouraging the Supreme Court to hear arguments in the case, even though all 50 states have certified their election results and no evidence of widespread fraud exists.

  • The lawsuit alleges that Georgia, Michigan, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin skewed the presidential election results and electors selected by voters in those states should not be permitted to cast votes for Biden.

What they're saying: “This brief presents [our] concern as Members of Congress, shared by untold millions of their constituents, that the unconstitutional irregularities involved in the 2020 presidential election cast doubt upon its outcome and the integrity of the American system of elections,” the brief signed by GOP lawmakers states.

Details: Signatories include House Minority Whip Steve Scalise (La.) and National Republican Congressional Committee chair Tom Emmer (Minn.) Rep. Mike Johnson (R-La.), head of the conservative Republican Study Committee, led the effort to solicit signatures.

The other side: House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (Calif.) and GOP Conference chair Liz Cheney (Wyo.) did not back the suit.

  • Rep. Chip Roy (R-Tex.) wrote on Twitter that the case “represents a dangerous violation of federalism” and “sets a precedent to have one state asking federal courts to police the voting procedures of other states.”

The big picture: 17 states filed a brief in the Supreme Court this week in support of Texas, including Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Indiana, Kansas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Montana, Nebraska, North Dakota, Oklahoma, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee, Utah and West Virginia.

Transcripts show George Floyd told police "I can't breathe" over 20 times

Section2

Newly released transcripts of bodycam footage from the Minneapolis Police Department show that George Floyd told officers he could not breathe more than 20 times in the moments leading up to his death.

Why it matters: Floyd's killing sparked a national wave of Black Lives Matter protests and an ongoing reckoning over systemic racism in the United States. The transcripts "offer one the most thorough and dramatic accounts" before Floyd's death, The New York Times writes.

The state of play: The transcripts were released as former officer Thomas Lane seeks to have the charges that he aided in Floyd's death thrown out in court, per the Times. He is one of four officers who have been charged.

  • The filings also include a 60-page transcript of an interview with Lane. He said he "felt maybe that something was going on" when asked if he believed that Floyd was having a medical emergency at the time.

What the transcripts say:

  • Floyd told the officers he was claustrophobic as they tried to get him into the squad car.
  • The transcripts also show Floyd saying, "Momma, I love you. Tell my kids I love them. I'm dead."
  • Former officer Derek Chauvin, who had his knee on Floyd's neck for over eight minutes, told Floyd, "Then stop talking, stop yelling, it takes a heck of a lot of oxygen to talk."

Read the transcripts via DocumentCloud.