[Hoot Gibson]

Richard Hasen, a law professor at the University of California, Irvine, called Mr Paxton's lawsuit filing a “press release masquerading as a lawsuit”.

Paul Smith, a professor and election law expert at Georgetown University’s law school, also suggested that Texas did not have a legitimate basis for the suit.

“There is no possible way that the state of Texas has standing to complain about how other states counted the votesand how they are about to cast their electoral votes,” he said.

Michigan's Democratic Attorney General, Dana Nessel, called the lawsuit “a publicity stunt, not a serious legal pleading.”

“The erosion of confidence in our democratic system isn’t attributable to the good people of Michigan, Wisconsin, Georgia or Pennsylvania but rather to partisan officials, like Mr Paxton, who place loyalty to a person over loyalty to their country,” Ms Nessel added.

A spokeswoman for Georgia’s Republican attorney general’s office said: “With all due respect, the Texas Attorney General is constitutionally, legally and factually wrong about Georgia.”

Michigan's Democratic Attorney General, Dana Nessel, called the lawsuit “a publicity stunt, not a serious legal pleading.”

“The erosion of confidence in our democratic system isn’t attributable to the good people of Michigan, Wisconsin, Georgia or Pennsylvania but rather to partisan officials, like Mr Paxton, who place loyalty to a person over loyalty to their country,” Ms Nessel added.

A spokeswoman for Georgia’s Republican attorney general’s office said: “With all due respect, the Texas Attorney General is constitutionally, legally and factually wrong about Georgia.”

I am no attorney, but I understand that the Texas suit was Ted Cruz's idea. The fact that the U.S. Supreme Court has agreed to hear the case suggests that the Court does not consider this case a publicity stunt. Up to 20 states are expected to join the Texas suit as plaintiffs. If the majority of Texas voters cast ballots for the candidate who was denied the presidency because of widespread fraud in four states, those voters were disenfranchised. Texas may lose the lawsuit but it is no publicity stunt.