We’re counting down to January 6 now, and a federal judge just dismissed one of the remaining legal challenges to the Electoral College vote count.
Rep. Louie Gohmert (R-TX) filed a case against Vice President Mike Pence basically seeking to have him, as the President of the Senate who would preside over the Jan. 6 proceedings, decide which slate of electors to choose in the states that Republicans are contesting. Gohmert argued because of fraud and irregularities in the election it was “impossible to state who won from the mail-in votes because legal ones have been commingled with illegal ones.”
The Justice Department argued that the plaintiffs “have sued the wrong defendant,” that Pence should not be the target of the suit.
The department said, in effect, that the suit objects to long-standing procedures laid out in law, “not any actions that Vice President Pence has taken,” so he should not be the target of the suit.
“A suit to establish that the Vice President has discretion over the count, filed against the Vice President, is a walking legal contradiction,” the department argued.
The judge didn’t make a finding on the merits of Gohmert’s allegations. Judge Jeremy Kernodle, a Trump appointee in the Eastern District of Texas ruled that Gohmert and the Arizona electors who joined with him in the suit did not have standing to sue.
Gohmert and the Arizona electors lack the standing to sure, rules the judge, a Trump appointee. pic.twitter.com/c30wYAhZ9u
— Kyle Cheney (@kyledcheney) January 2, 2021
“If I don’t have standing, no one does,” Gohmert responded to the decision in a tweet. “When no one ever has standing, what good is a court system?” He indicated he was likely to appeal.
Reports are that over 140 Republicans will be objecting to the count on Jan. 6. That will force a stopping of the count and require a two-hour discussion on the question of the fraud and the irregularities because at least one member of the House and one member of the Senate are raising objections. Sen. Josh Hawley (R-MO) is at least one senator who has said that he will be joining the members of the House and objecting. Hawley said basically that Congress needed to listen to the concerns being raised, particularly the Constitutional questions involving state officials not adhering to state laws such as in Pennsylvania. Hawley also blasted the Democrats for their criticism of his announcement, noting that Democrats have raised objections to the count for the last three Republican presidents.
HT: Twitchy
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