TYLER, Texas — Mike Pence is facing a new lawsuit in his official capacity as vice president from Rep. Louie Gohmert (R-TX) and a slew of other Republicans in a last-ditch effort to try and overturn Democrat Joe Biden's presidential win.
The lawsuit, filed in U.S. District Court Sunday, focuses on the Jan. 6 meeting of Congress to certify the states' electoral vote counts and finalize Biden's victory over President Donald Trump. The incumbent vice president, which is Pence, presides over the largely ceremonial meeting as written in the 1887 federal law known as the Electoral Count Act.
However, the lawsuit asks a Trump-appointed federal judge in Texas to strike down the act as unconstitutional according to the Twelfth Amendment. The lawsuit cites the "exclusive dispute resolution mechanisms" which allow the vice president to determine which slate of electors count for a given state.
Electors across the country cast their votes on Dec. 14. Biden won, receiving 306 electoral votes, compared to Trump's 232. In some Biden states, pro-Trump electors cast ballots of their own, however, they have no legal significance.
Gohmert released the following statement to CBS19 regarding the lawsuit:
“The 2020 presidential election was one we'd expect to see in a banana republic, not the United States of America. In fact, the rampant fraud and unconstitutional actions that took place were so egregious that seven contested states-- Arizona, Georgia, Michigan, New Mexico, Nevada, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin all sent dueling slates of electors to Congress. This puts Vice President Mike Pence in a position where some argue he has to choose between morality and the law. That is not the case.
“It is also critical to note that as many formerly in the mainstream media, now the Alt-Left media, continue to say that every court has said there is no evidence of fraud. That is disingenuous, deceitful, and flat out dishonest. The truth is that no court so far has had the morality and courage to allow evidence of fraud to be introduced in front of it.
“We continue to hold out hope that there is a federal judge who understands that the fraud that stole this election will mean the end of our republic, and this suit would insure that the Vice-President will only accept electors legitimately and legally elected. There must be an opportunity for a day in court when fraud was this prevalent.
“It is for this reason that I and other plaintiffs have filed a complaint for expedited declaratory and emergency injunctive relief to seek judgement from the court on the Vice President's authority when presiding over the Senate during the Joint Session of Congress. We are asking the court to uphold the powers laid out in the United States Constitution which grant the Vice President the exclusive authority and sole discretion in determining which electoral votes to count. As outlined in the filing, the Electoral Count Act is unconstitutional because it directs Vice President Pence to legitimize electoral votes in violation of the Electors Clause and limits or eliminates his Twelfth Amendment authority to determine which slates of electors should be counted and which, if any, may not be counted. This is fundamental because no statute can constitutionally supply rules to the extent that such statute violates the U.S. Constitution.
Thanks to spineless politicians, corrupt state officials and a coordinated effort to undermine the will of the American people in favor of business as usual in the D.C. swamp, we now find ourselves in a place where a stolen election becomes just another one of the miscarriages of justice this town refuses to remedy. The D.C. elites want to sweep these electoral injustices under the rug, just as they have done with countless other scandals such as the Russia-collusion hoax, the Biden-Ukrainian quid-pro quo, and Hillary Clinton's mishandling of classified information, to mention only a few. For the sake of the future of our Republic, come January 6th, Vice President Pence must be authorized to uphold the legal votes of millions of Americans and preserve our nation's great experiment in self-governance.”
Legal experts quickly dismissed the validity of the lawsuit online.
"The suit will go nowhere," Joshua Geltzer, executive director of Georgetown University’s Institute for Constitutional Advocacy and Protection, tweeted.
"No, this won't work," Rick Haen, an election law expert, tweeted.
Gohmert is joined by 11 other plaintiffs in the suit against Pence including Arizona Republican Party chairwoman Kelli Ward.
Pence has faced pressure from core Trump supporters to disrupt the Jan. 6 event. Before leaving for Florida for the Christmas holiday, Trump hosted several House Republican lawmakers at the White House to discuss an ultimately futile effort to block Congress from affirming Biden's victory in the November election.
