WASHINGTON – The House of Representatives on Thursday demanded that a federal judge in Texas give Republican congressman Vice President Mike Pence the power to decide which electoral vote counts when Congress meets to finalize the November presidential election.
The request was made by the House when Mr. Pence weighed himself against the plaintiff – Rip of Texas. Louis Gohmart and many Arizona Republicans, who were unsuccessfully elected president – called the lawsuit a “running legal contradiction” in the Justice Department. Mr. Gohmert named Mr. Pence as the sole defendant, which the Justice Department noted was “ironically the person whose power they seek to promote.”
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According to the filing in court, Mr. Gohmart’s lawyers tried to reach an agreement with Mr. Pence on the lawsuit, but those discussions failed.
U.S. Rep. Louis Gohmert, R-Texas, left, and vice president Mike Pence.
Mr. Gohmert’s lawsuit challenges the actions of Congress, which will conduct next week’s vote count, which will cement President-elect Joe Biden’s victory. Further, the lawsuit argues that the Electoral Counting Act of 1887, which assigns a mono-formal role to the Vice President in declaring election results, encapsulates his powers under the 12th Amendment.
Amendment 12 states that “in the presence of the Senate President, the Senate and the House of Representatives, all certificates will be opened and votes will then be counted.”
“Under the 12th Amendment, Defendant Pence has the sole right and sole discretion to open and approve the counting of electoral votes for a given state, and where voters have a competitive slate, or where there is an objection to a single slate,” said Mr. Gohmart. Voters to decide which voter’s votes are counted or none of them will be counted.
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“The Senate will open all credentials, in contrast to the President’s passive voice and the Vice President’s omission,” the House’s General Counsel Douglas Letter wrote in response. “The vote will be counted after the second vote.” It shows that the amendment assigns the responsibility of opening certificates to the Vice President and leaves the counting of votes to others.
The Department of Justice, avoiding comment on the 12th Amendment, suggested that Mr. Gohmert could sue Congress instead, as the 1887 law gave the legislature the right to transfer Mr. Pence.
The department has been working on behalf of Mr. Pence since he was prosecuted in his official capacity.
The story continues in the Story Street Journal.
Siobhan Hughes and Dina Paul contributed to this article.
