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WASHINGTON (Reuters) – A federal judge on Friday rejected a lawsuit by a Republican congressman seeking to allow Vice President Mike Pence to reject Electoral College votes for Joe Biden when Congress meets Jan.6 to certify his victory over the president. Donald Trump.
The latest risky attempt by Trump’s Republican allies to roll back the Nov. 3 election was dismissed by one of Trump’s appointees to the federal bank, Jeremy Kernodle. It ruled that US Representative Louie Gohmert of Texas and a list of Republican voters from Arizona could not show that they suffered any personal harm “fairly traceable” to Pence’s allegedly illegal conduct and therefore lacked the legal capacity to present the case. .
The standing requirement “helps reinforce the limited role of federal courts in our constitutional system. The problem for plaintiffs here is that they lack standing,” Kernodle wrote.
A Trump spokesperson referred the questions to Pence’s office. A Pence spokesman declined to comment.
A Gohmert spokeswoman had no immediate comment.
Trump has refused to concede defeat to Democrat Biden and has repeatedly falsely claimed that the election was tainted by widespread fraud. He and his allies have lost dozens of judicial efforts seeking to reverse the election results.
Biden beat President Donald Trump by a margin of 306-232 in the Electoral College and is scheduled to take office on January 20.
Under the Electoral College system, “electoral votes” are assigned to the states and the District of Columbia according to their representation in Congress.
Gohmert’s lawsuit argued that Pence had discretion in deciding which votes should be counted. They also asked the judge to prohibit Pence from following the Electoral Counting Act of 1887, which sets out how Congress handles objections to votes.
Some Republicans have said they plan to oppose the recount of presidential voters next week in Congress. Reuters reported this week that the effort could spark a lengthy debate in the Senate, but has little chance of overturning the results.
A Justice Department attorney representing Pence on Thursday urged Kernodle to dismiss the lawsuit saying they had sued the wrong person as they raised “a number of important legal questions about how electoral votes for president are counted.” .
“The Senate and House, not the vice president, have legal interests that are adverse enough to the plaintiffs to substantiate a case or controversy,” Pence’s filing reads.
(Reporting by David Shepardson; Editing by Chris Reese and Christian Schmollinger)
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