Rep. Louie Gohmert (R-Texas) and several other Republicans sued Vice President Pence this week in a last-ditch effort bid to stop the certification of the election.
The lawsuit focuses on Pence’s role in an upcoming January 6 meeting of Congress to count states’ electoral votes and finalize Biden’s victory over President Trump. The Vice President presides over the meeting finalizing the votes, and it has become a rubber stamp. The role is governed by an 1887 federal law known as the Electoral Count Act.
The Republican lawsuit was filed against Pence in his official capacity as vice president. It asks a federal judge in Texas to strike down the law as unconstitutional.
The GOP plaintiffs went further. They ask the court to grant Pence the authority on January 6 to overturn Trump’s defeat in key battleground states.
The lawsuit is not likely to prevail.
“The idea that the Vice President has sole authority to determine whether or not to count electoral votes submitted by a state, or which of competing submissions to count, is inconsistent with a proper understanding of the Constitution,” said Edward Foley, a law professor at the Ohio State University, The Hill reported.
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