‘Under the Twelfth Amendment, accused Pence alone has the sole authority and sole discretion to open and permit the voting for a given state, and where there are competing voters, or where there is an objection to any threshold of voters, to determine whether or not voters’ votes will be counted, “the lawsuit alleges.
The case is before Judge Jeremy Kernodle, a Trump who has been appointed to the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Texas. It is unclear whether he will grant the request for a speedy verdict.
Although the lawsuit is unlikely to hit the right, it puts Pence in a position to challenge the lawsuit – putting him on the opposite side of Trump and his GOP defenders – or support it and the intention to overthrow voters in 2020. -election be.
Pence has spoken to GOP lawmakers trying to reverse the outcome of the election, but has avoided taking a side in the matter in public, giving no indication of how he intends to play his role. act as chairman of the January 6 congress to confirm Biden’s victory. .
Although Biden was the certified winner in states such as Arizona, Pennsylvania, Michigan and others, the Republicans who would have been Trump’s candidates met anyway and pretended to cast their votes for Trump’s re-election. They rely on Pence and the Republicans of Congress to treat the informal votes as equal to the lead certified in the states where Trump was defeated.
Pence, according to the lawsuit, may only be governed by constitutional provisions and may have sole discretion to determine which election votes should count for a given state, and may not ignore and may not ignore the provisions of the Electoral Act does not support. exclusive authority. “
Gohmert indicates in the case that he will be one of the Republicans of the House who intends to challenge Biden’s voters from key states. Dozens of other House Republicans plan to follow suit, and at least one incoming GOP senator – Tommy Tuberville of Alabama – has indicated that he is likely to join them. It is unclear whether other GOP senators will do the same.
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell worked to ward off his caucus from participating in the challenges, and second-rate GOP leader Senator John Thune (RS.D.) drew a fierce attack from Trump after he told reporters said that any challenges to the results were doomed to fail.
Under the rules, Gohmert is challenging, all that is needed is a single member of each branch to challenge voters from multiple states to enforce a vote on the matter. But any challenge is likely to fail under the expected rules. The Democratic-led House will vote to uphold Biden’s victory, and many GOP senators have indicated they do not intend to support Trump’s efforts.
By throwing out Gohmert’s rules, Pence would be able to decide which voters to consider in the first place, raising fears that he could simply choose to count Trump’s lead.
Trump allies have repeatedly pointed to Pence’s role in the middle of the Electoral College certification process as a reason to hope that the election results can still be reversed. Trump even reinforced such a theory last week by tweeting a proposal that Pence could intervene in the transfer of voting votes to the National Archives.
At least earlier this month, Pence planned to oversee Biden’s victory and then try to escape Trump’s anger by going abroad for what could be his last diplomatic term. If Pence finally chooses not to run in the session, Senate President Ch Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) is likely to preside.
Gabby Orr contributed to this report.