Texas

Federal Appeals Court Rejects Election Lawsuit Against Pence

It said U.S. Rep. Louie Gohmert, R-Texas, had no standing in his effort to put the presidential election outcome in the hands of the vice president

U.S. Vice President Mike Pence waves to supporters at the end of a rally in Kinston, North Carolina, October 25, 2020.
Jonathan Drake | Reuters

A federal appeals court Saturday night rejected an attempt by a congressman to overturn the results of the November presidential election, NBC News reports.

A three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth District threw out an appeal by U.S. Rep. Louie Gohmert, R-Texas, that sought to allow Vice President Mike Pence to hand the election to Trump.

The panel agreed with a Friday ruling by the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Texas, which said Gohmert and a group of 11 Arizona electors who favored Trump did not have standing to change Pence's role. Gohmert sued Pence in the effort to morph his job as an electoral vote counter to a determinative role in the election.

Under the Twelfth Amendment to the Constitution the vice president presides over the Senate's electoral vote count, acting as a human tally. The suit sought to liberate him to refuse to accept enough votes from supporters of Joe Biden to eventually give the White House again to Trump.

Read the full story at NBCNews.com

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