A federal judge threw out Texas Republican Representative Louie Gohmert's suit against Mike Pence to overturn the presidential election amid the formal count of votes next week.
A federal judge dismissed the lawsuit
Jeremy Kernodle, Texas U.S. District Judge, and a Trump appointee dismissed the lawsuit Friday, ruling the plaintiffs fell short of 'standing,' as per Daily Mail via MSN. Kernodle also alleged 'an injury to the vice president, which is not fairly traceable.'
Arizona's slate of GOP 'alternate' electors and Gohmert sued Pence, so Gohmert could expand his powers to solely determine the Electoral College votes to count when he presides the January 6 session of Congress.
Pence has mostly a ceremonial role in the next week's proceedings, Daily Mail reported. Gohmert argued in a new filing on Friday afternoon that Pence is more powerful than an 'envelope-opener in chief.'
On the filing, Gohmert wrote, "Under the Constitution, he has the authority to conduct that proceeding as he sees fit."
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Pence will preside over the vote certification
According to the Financial Times, the U.S. Supreme Court rejected two cases. However, the assaults, and unsubstantiated claims of fraud, have failed to reverse President-elect Joe Biden's victory and undermine the faith in the electoral system.
The election result was announced days after the vote-counting, which took longer than the recent polls due to the significant number of postal ballots cast due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Gohmert's case allows Pence to reject electoral college votes on January 6 when they are approved by Congress, as per the BBC News.
Pence will preside over the vote certification in Congress in a ceremonial role involving opening and tallying the envelope containing college votes. Gohmert's suit aims to expand Pence's role allowing him to cast judgment on the votes' validity.
However, Judge Kernodle, appointed to the Texas court, rejected the case, saying it was based on speculative incidents. A U.S. Justice Department lawyer representing Pence urged Gohmert to dismiss the suit. On Thursday, the representative suggests that it was not the vice-president's office to scrutinize the outcome.
Most Republicans in Congress are expected to vote in favor of the results' certification. But their vote will not likely change the outcome. On January 20, Biden is due to be sworn in as the United States president at a scaled-back ceremony with 1,000 tickets only to imply the COVID-19 precautions.
Votes are allotted to the District of Columbia and states that the electoral college system says based on their congressional representation. The Guardian reported that some Republicans said they plan to object to the presidential electors' count next week in Congress.
A lengthy debate in the Senate could be triggered but has no chance of overturning the results. Pence's filing said, "The Senate and the House, not the vice president, have legal interests that are sufficiently adverse to plaintiffs to ground a case or controversy."
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