Louie Gohmert
Photographer: Matt McClain / The Washington Post / Bloomberg
Photographer: Matt McClain / The Washington Post / Bloomberg
A federal judge in Texas has filed a Hail Mary lawsuit against Vice President Mike Pence by a Republican congressman who argued that the Vice President has the authority to unilaterally Donald Trump’s election loss during a joint sitting of the Congress Wednesday.
U.S. District Judge Jeremy Kernodle on Friday dismissed the case by Representative Louie Gohmert and ruled that the Texas congressman did not suffer any specific injury as a result of any action by Pence and therefore did not have the right to sue. The judge certainly did not merit Gohmert’s argument, which would radically change a vice president’s role.
“The alleged injury to Congressman Gohmert requires a series of hypothetical – but by no means certain – events,” said Kernodle, a Trump nominee. “Plaintiffs presume what the Vice President will do on January 6” and “what electoral votes the Vice President will count or reject from disputed countries.”
Gohmert argues that Pence has the power to hand over a second term to Trump by simply rejecting the states of democratic voters from the swing states and instead electing competitive GOP voters when the Senate and House meet jointly to obtain certificates from to open and count election votes. Election experts said such a finding would cause a major conflict of interest.
Formal acceptance
The vice president has the constitutional role of chairing the Senate, which traditionally includes overseeing the formal acceptance of the election college vote, which President-elect Joe Biden has won.
Pence urged the judge to reject Gohmert’s lawsuit and said in a Thursday that the congressman should have sued the U.S. Senate or the House of Representatives if he did not agree with the established way the Electoral College votes. Pence’s submission was made by the Department of Justice.
The Dec. 27 lawsuit by Gohmert reflects Trump’s outspoken assertion that Biden won the election only through rampant voter fraud committed by thousands of corrupt Democratic officials and election workers. Some members of Congress indicated that they would object during the joint sitting, although that was not enough to stop Biden’s victory.
Gohmert’s lawyer Howard Kleinhendler did not immediately respond to a request for comment.