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An American judge 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 Wednesday to certify his victory over President Donald Trump.
The latest risky attempt by Trump’s Republican allies to overturn the November election result was dismissed by one of Trump’s appointees to the federal bank, Jeremy Kernodle.
It ruled that Rep. 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 enforce the limited role of the federal courts in our constitutional system. The problem for the 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.
Gohmert and his fellow plaintiffs said they would appeal. In an interview with the Newsmax station, the congressman said that the ruling was “an example of when the institutions that created our constitution to resolve disputes so that you do not have to have riots and violence in the streets, is when they go wrong. “
“All these things about it [election fraud] being discredited, without foundation, are outright lies, “he said, without proof. “Basically, in effect, the ruling would be that you have to go out and be as violent as Antifa and BLM [Black Lives Matter]. “
Trump has refused to admit defeat 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 Trump by a margin of 306-232 at the electoral college and is scheduled to take office on January 20.
Under the polling station system, electoral votes are assigned to the states and the District of Columbia based on their representation in Congress.
Some Republicans have said they plan to oppose the recount of presidential voters next week in Congress. The effort could spark a lengthy debate in the Senate, but it 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 because 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 plaintiffs to substantiate a case or controversy,” Pence’s presentation reads.
