Herbert, Cox call action of Reyes on election lawsuit “unwise”

SALT LAKE CITY — Gov. Gary Herbert and Gov.-elect Spencer Cox, both Republicans, released a statement in response to Republican Utah Attorney General Sean Reyes, criticizing his decision to join an election lawsuit challenging Electoral College votes in several states. 

Earlier in the day on Wednesday, Reyes announced Utah would join 16 other states in filing an amicus brief in support of a Texas lawsuit involving the 2020 presidential election. Texas petitioned the United States Supreme Court to review the results — specifically, 62 Electoral College votes from four states. 

The statement is as follows:

The Attorney General did not consult us before signing on to this brief, so we don’t know what his motivation is. Just as we would not want other states challenging Utah’s election results, we do not think we should intervene in other states’ elections. Candidates who wish to challenge election results have access to the courts without our involvement. This is an unwise use of taxpayers’ money.

The lawsuit asks the Supreme Court to invalidate the votes from Georgia, Michigan, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin. Altogether, those votes would be enough to overturn former Vice President Joe Biden’s win and keep President Donald Trump in Washington. However, analysts have said the suit a legal long shot. 

Thus far, the president’s legal team has filed around 50 election-related lawsuits. According to the Associated Press, more than 35 of those challenges have been defeated so far. The rest are pending.