December 28, 2020
WASHINGTON — Vice President Pence was sued Sunday by Rep. Louie Gohmert (R-Texas) and several other Republicans in an attempt to force Pence to only count only GOP electors from contested states.
The lawsuit focuses on Pence’s role in an upcoming Jan. 6 meeting of Congress to count states’ electoral votes and finalize Biden’s victory over President Trump.
The Vice President presides over the Joint Session of Congress by reading into the record the slate of electors sent by each state. The vice president’s duties are governed by the Electoral Count Act.
Some legal scholars have argued that where there are disputes over electors, the vice president has the legal authority to read into the record that slate of electors, which he believes is correct.
On the other hand, different legal scholars have said the vice president has no such power and may only read the slate of electors transmitted to the Congress by state officials.
The new GOP lawsuit, which was filed against Pence in his official capacity as vice president, asks a federal judge in Texas to strike down the Electoral Count Act as unconstitutional. The lawsuit also asks the judge to declare that Pence does have the authority on Jan. 6 to effectively overturn the official results in battleground states due to the fraud.
Categories: Election
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