FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. — Earlier this week, Arkansas Attorney General, and 17 other Republican attorneys general, joined a Texas lawsuit challenging the election results in four battleground states President Trump lost in the Nov. 3 election; Georgia, Michigan, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin.
On Friday, the Supreme Court rejected the Texas-led effort to toss out the four battleground states' election results.
The lawsuit filed by Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton claimed the four states exploited the COVID-19 pandemic to justify ignoring federal and state election laws. The lawsuit also states that the states enacted last-minute changes, skewing the 2020 general election results.
126 Republican members of Congress signed on to the case in a show of support.
President Trump and his Republican allies argued that the Supreme Court should have set aside all four states’ votes, allowing Republican-led state legislatures to cast their state's vote in the election.
Political experts expected the lawsuit to fail, but Rutledge says the support was crucial in protecting the election process and Arkansans' votes.
When asked if Arkansas taxpayer money was used in the case, Rutledge admitted that attorneys with the state worked on the case since it was a state issue.
“Well, certainly. We have attorneys with the state working on those matters. And because this is a state issue, we do. But there is no way to quantify it, and there is no way to quantify the integrity of our election," Rutledge told 5NEWS.
Janine Parry, a political science professor at the University of Arkansas, predicted that the lawsuit would not make it to the Supreme Court, but says it probably boosted Rutledge's standing with Republicans in the state.
“I doubt it will impact Arkansas voters. I doubt it will impact the outcome of the election. I doubt it will impact voters in Wisconsin, Pennsylvania, Georgia, or Michigan. But, it may help Leslie Rutledge get the kind of profile she wants ahead of this knockdown drag out that is coming in 2022,” Parry said.
When asked if she hopes joining the lawsuit and continuing to support President Trump and his campaign will positively impact her run for Arkansas governor, Rutledge says this, as well as her other accomplishments as the attorney general, will be a platform she'll proudly run on.
All 50 states and DC have now certified their presidential election results, meaning the window for the legal battle the Trump campaign is pushing for is getting smaller.
