Court of Appeal dismisses Louie Gohmert case asking Mike Pence to interfere in electoral college vote count

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Saturday’s ruling from the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals came just hours after the Republican congressman filed his appeal of a previous loss.

A district court on Friday dismissed Gohmert and several Arizona Republicans’ lawsuit to force Pence to help kick off the election for President Donald Trump next week when Congress meets to count the electoral college votes . Saturday’s decision upheld the previous decision.

“We need say no more, and we uphold the judgment primarily for the reasons given by the district court. We express no opinion on the underlying merits or on what putative part, if any. , could have standing. The motion for acceleration is dismissed as The warrant is issued immediately, “the decision reads.

CNN has reached out to Gohmert for comment on Saturday’s decision.

Gohmert’s lawsuit was part of the GOP’s desperate and extraordinary attempt to overturn the presidential election using baseless and unproven allegations of mass electoral fraud and accusing several states that President-elect Joe Biden won have illegally changed their voting rules due to the pandemic.

Gohmert and a list of potential Trump voters from Arizona had said only Pence could decide the number of electoral votes – a remarkable argument suggesting that vice presidents can directly determine who wins a presidential election, regardless of the results .

On Thursday, Pence had asked a federal judge to dismiss the lawsuit, arguing that the legal questions raised by Gohmert, as well as a list of Arizona Republicans, should be directed to the House and Senate, rather than vice -President. Pence’s file did not say whether he was considering the possibility of interfering with the Electoral College’s tally, but there is no public indication that he will.

“(A) prosecution to establish that the vice president has discretion over the charge, brought against the vice president, is a walking legal contradiction,” Pence said.

“Ironically, Representative Gohmert’s position, if adopted by the Court, would in effect deprive him of the possibility, as a member of the House, under the Election Count Act, to raise objections to the count. electoral votes, then debate and vote, ”Pence’s brief added.

CNN has reached out to Pence for comment.

At least 140 House Republicans are expected to vote against counting the electoral votes on January 6, CNN’s Jake Tapper reported Thursday. Gohmert said he would be one of them.
Nearly a dozen Republican elected senators and senators announced on Saturday that they would vote against the electoral vote count. The 11 Republican lawmakers have said they intend to support an objection to the electoral college votes, if any, and propose an election commission to conduct a “10-day emergency audit” of election results in the “disputed states”. Pence appeared to approve of the move on Saturday.

“A fair and credible audit – conducted swiftly and completed well before January 20 – would dramatically improve American confidence in our electoral process and greatly enhance the legitimacy of who will become our next president.” We owe it to the people. 11 GOP lawmakers said in a statement.

They added that the Congress vote on January 6 was the “only constitutional power left to examine and force the resolution of the multiple allegations of serious electoral fraud.”

There were no credible allegations of voting problems that would have impacted the election, as claimed by dozens of state and federal courts, governors, state election officials and security departments. interior and justice.

CNN’s Jake Tapper, Lauren Fox and Veronica Stracqualursi contributed to this report.

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