Election Deadlines Are Firm Deadlines | National Review
The proposed Texas lawsuit (it s proposed because the Supreme Court would have to agree to consider it doubtful) assumes that the justices may blithely ignore these dates. For as long as it takes to litigate state Attorney General Ken Paxton s claims, Texas would have the Court stay the Electoral College and congressional proceedings necessary to elect a president. The thinking appears to be that the only date that matters is January 20, because that is fixed in the Twentieth Amendment to the Constitution as the date (at noon thereof) when the current presidential term expires.
This is wrong. The other election deadline dates trace to the Constitution, too.
In Article II (section 2) and the Twelfth Amendment, Congress is empowered to establish the process and dates for setting the Electoral College vote and later counting that vote at a joint session of Congress. There is nothing in the Constitution that gives the Supreme Court a check on this congressional power. Congress has set these dates by statute see Title 3, U.S. Code, Section 5 (safe harbor), Section 7 (Electoral College vote), and Section 15 (counting the electoral votes in Congress).
Well, that’s a reason for SCOTUS not to hear the case. If they rely on this, I hope they explain.