WASHINGTON (AP) – The Department of Justice has asked a federal judge to drop a final lawsuit led by a Republican from the House, who wants Vice President Mike Pence to give power to the results of the presidential election that Joe Biden won when Congress was formal, to stop. count the election college votes next week.
Pence, as president of the Senate, will oversee Wednesday’s session and declare the winner of the White House race. The Electoral College this month confirmed Biden’s 306-232 victory, and multiple legal attempts by President Donald Trump’s campaign to challenge the results failed.
The case cites Pence, who plays a major ceremonial role in next week’s proceedings, as the defendant and asks the court to overturn the 1887 law setting out how Congress handles the vote count. It claims that the vice president “may exercise sole authority and sole discretion in determining which electoral votes should count for a given state.”
The Justice Department is representing Pence in a case aimed at finding a way to keep his boss, President Donald Trump, in power. In a court that was filed in Texas on Wednesday, the department said that rep. Louie Gohmert, R-Texas, and a group of Republican voters from Arizona “sued the wrong accused” – as one of those suing, actually a legally recognizable claim. ”
“This is the role that the Senate and the House of Republicans prescribe in the Electoral Act against which plaintiffs object, not any steps taken by Vice President Pence. … An agreement to establish that the Vice President has a discretion over the score, which was filed against the Vice President, is a material inconsistency.
Trump, the first president to lose a re-election bid in nearly 30 years, attributed his defeat to widespread voter fraud. But a series of non-partisan election officials and Republicans confirmed that there was no fraud in the November race that would change the outcome of the election. These include former attorney general William Barr, who said he sees no reason to appoint a special advocate to investigate the president’s demands over the 2020 election. He resigned from his post last week.
Trump and his allies have filed about 50 lawsuits challenging election results, and nearly all have been fired or dropped. He also lost twice at the Supreme Court.