A federal judge has dismissed a lawsuit that would've overturned the U.S. election results come Jan. 6 - the day when Congress finally declares the country's next President.
On Monday, Texas Rep. Louie Gohmert, along with Arizona GOP Chairwoman Kelli Ward and other GOP officials, filed a lawsuit against U.S. Vice President Mike Pence, seeking to give him power to nullify the Electoral College's votes and choose votes coming from a different slate of electors.
The lawsuit sought to invalidate a federal law that governs the role the office of the Vice President plays in accepting the votes of the Electoral College. This law -the Electoral Count Act of 1887- details procedures for the counting of electoral votes, The Blaze noted.
This law says the Vice President, as president of the Senate, will "open all the certificates," i.e. the papers that contain the results from the Electoral College's votes from each state, and present them before both houses of Congress to certify the results of the elections. This is expected to happen on Jan. 6, Wednesday.
Rep. Gohmert's lawsuit claims that the 1887 law, which contains the above-mentioned provision specifically to prevent a Vice President from refusing to present the Electoral College votes to Congress for some reason, limits the Vice President's "exclusive authority and sole discretion under the Twelfth Amendment to determine which slates of electors for a State, or neither, may be counted."
The lawsuit, in effect, seeks to give Pence the power to reject the Electoral College votes, particularly from key battleground states, especially since there's proof that massive voter fraud occurred in these states. Should the lawsuit succeed, Pence will have the power to reject these votes and, and accept the votes cast by an "alternative" slate of electors instead.
Pence's defense
VP Mike Pence, through his lawyers, filed a brief in opposition to Rep. Gohmert's lawsuit and explained a few things about it.
First, they called the lawsuit, which was filed "against the Vice President," a "walking contradiction," pointing our how it sought to give Pence power to reject the Electoral College's results, yet naming him the sole Defendant in the lawsuit.
"The Vice President is not the proper Defendant to this lawsuit," the brief said.
Second, the brief also pointed out several legal issues, such as the lawsuit's failure to meet certain standards, one of which is as to "whether an actual controversy [of legal interests]" between the Plaintiffs and the Defendant exists.
Third, the brief also pointed out that if ever the lawsuit does succeed, the result should be to remove "any constraint" the 1887 law placed on the VP.
It's worth noting, however, that also according to the brief, the Vice President "respectfully defers to the Senate and the House of Representatives, as those bodies see fit, to present" a "number of arguments in response to Plaintiffs' motion."
Dismissed
Judge Jeremy Kernodle, one of President Donald Trump's appointees, dismissed Rep. Gohmert's lawsuit because it "lacks standing."
The order of dismissal notes that the court has to ensure whether it has jurisdiction to take on the case. "One crucial component of jurisdiction is that the Plaintiffs have standing," it said, adding that "the Plaintiffs to show a personal injury that is fairly traceable to the Defendant's allegedly unlawful conduct and is likely to be redressed by the requested relief."
It then said Rep. Gohmert "alleges at most an institutional injury to the House of Representatives," deemed as "insufficient" to be used as standing. The other Plaintiffs, on the other hand, "allege an injury that is not fairly traceable to the Defendant."
For these reasons, and some others, Kernodle has decided to dismiss the motion.
This is the latest of many actions aimed at overturning the fraudulent election results in favor of U.S. President Donald Trump.
