DES MOINES, Iowa — Iowa's Republican governor prevented Democratic Attorney General Tom Miller from joining a brief Thursday that opposes the Texas legal challenge to the 2020 presidential election in four other states filed with the U.S. Supreme Court.
Miller said if he had been asked to join the Texas lawsuit he would have declined because he believes the 2020 elections were fairly and safely conducted by election officials of both parties.
“I continue to have faith in the integrity of the U.S. election. I cannot support a lawsuit that seeks to invalidate the votes of millions of Americans,” he said.
17 Republican attorneys general have filed a brief supporting the Texas lawsuit filed against Michigan, Georgia, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin that repeats false, disproven, and unsubstantiated accusations about the voting in four states that went for Joe Biden. The case demands that the high court invalidate the states’ 62 total Electoral College votes, an unprecedented remedy.
Miller acknowledged his office has been bombarded by phone calls and messages to support and oppose the lawsuit but said he “must let the law guide us in making decisions.”
He said he was asked Thursday by a group of Democratic attorneys general to join a brief supporting the four states the Texas attorney general is suing, but Reynolds refused to allow him to join.
Miller said he supports the brief because it argues that the U.S. Constitution provides no basis for one state to second-guess the courts of another in their interpretation of state law and that common-sense measures taken in response to the coronavirus pandemic did not introduce widespread fraud.
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Miller and Reynolds reached an agreement last year that requires him to seek her approval before filing out-of-state lawsuits on behalf of Iowa. The agreement was reached after Reynolds vetoed a bill passed by Republican lawmakers angry at state challenges to President Donald Trump's policies.
The bill would have permanently required the Iowa attorney general to seek permission from the governor, Legislature or executive council to join multi-state lawsuits. Iowa would have been the only state with such a provision.
Reynolds, an outspoken Trump supporter, said Thursday that Iowa was not asked to join the brief supporting the Texas lawsuit because Miller is a Democrat.
“I would have requested that Iowa officially join in support of the lawsuit filed by the Texas Attorney General,” Reynolds said in a statement.
Trump carried Iowa in the election.
