Rep. Louie Gohmert’s Lawsuit Seeks To Grant Mike Pence Authority To Disregard Electoral College Vote

Rep. Louie Gohmert (R-Texas) and a group of would-be Republican electors sued Vice President Mike Pence in federal court on Monday in an attempt to block President-elect Joe Biden‘s electors from being counted on Jan. 6.

Congress will convene then to certify the results of the Electoral College, which solidified Biden’s victory. However, Gohmert’s suit claims that the Electoral Count Act established in 1887 unconstitutionally prevents Pence from having “the exclusive authority and sole discretion” to decide which electors to count.

The longshot lawsuit would allow Pence to ignore Biden’s electors and count Trump’s instead.

It could also force Pence to publicly take a stand on the validity of the election. While Pence has signaled his support towards unproven theories of widespread voter fraud, he has not publicly voiced support for disrupting the electoral processes as Trump and some of his allies, such as Gohmert, have.

The judge overseeing the lawsuit is Judge Jeremy Kernodle, a Trump appointee to the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Texas.