https://www.nytimes.com/2021/01/01/us/politics/mike-pence-louie-gohmert-lawsuit.html Federal Judge Dismisses Election Lawsuit Against Pence WASHINGTON — A federal judge on Friday dismissed a lawsuit led by President Trump’s allies in Congress that aimed to pressure Vice President Mike Pence to overturn the results of the election, dealing a blow to lawmakers’ last-ditch effort to challenge President-elect Joseph R. Biden Jr.’s victory. Judge Jeremy D. Kernodle of the Eastern District of Texas ruled that Republican lawmakers, led by Representative Louie Gohmert of Texas, lacked the proper standing to sue Mr. Pence in the matter. The lawsuit challenged the more than century-old law that governs the Electoral College process, in an attempt to expand an otherwise ceremonial role into one with the power to reject electoral votes that were cast for Mr. Biden. As the presiding officer of the Senate, Mr. Pence has the responsibility of opening and tallying envelopes sent from each state and announcing their electoral results when Congress meets on Jan. 6 to certify Mr. Biden’s victory. Mr. Gohmert, along with his colleagues and electors in Arizona, had hoped that the lawsuit, filed on Sunday, could force Mr. Pence to take on an expanded role, opening the vice president up to pressure to invalidate the election results. But Judge Kernodle, who was appointed by Mr. Trump, dashed those hopes on Friday, though Mr. Gohmert said in an interview with Newsmax that his lawyers would appeal. His decision came a day after the Justice Department asked him to reject the lawsuit. The department also argued that Mr. Gohmert did not have standing to sue Mr. Pence over performing the duties as defined by the act, but maintained that he should sue Congress, which had passed the original law. The president was unhappy when he learned that the Justice Department was representing Mr. Pence in a suit that his supporters had filed, and he reached out to the vice president on Friday morning to discuss it, three people briefed on the discussion said. On Politics with Lisa Lerer: A guiding hand through the political news cycle, telling you what you really need to know. In their conversation, Mr. Trump expressed surprise about the development, even though the Justice Department followed proper procedure because Mr. Pence was being sued in his official capacity, according to one of the people briefed on the discussion. Mr. Trump was more vocal to advisers than to Mr. Pence about his frustrations over the Justice Department’s involvement. Mr. Trump’s allies in Congress are mounting a doomed, last-minute effort to subvert the results of the election by objecting to the certification of key states’ electoral results when Congress meets to certify them, the final procedural step in affirming Mr. Biden’s victory. Their effort, led by Mr. Gohmert in the House and Josh Hawley of Missouri in the Senate, will force each chamber to debate the objections for up to two hours, followed by a vote on Mr. Biden’s victory. With a majority of Republicans in the Senate expected to certify the election and with the House controlled by Democrats, the bid is destined to fail. But the process could ultimately put Mr. Pence in the agonizing position of declaring that Mr. Trump has lost the election. Though Republicans in the Senate have met the gambit largely with reticence — and even open contempt — lawmakers in the House have flocked to support the effort. In the brief that Mr. Gohmert initially filed in federal court, he indicated that over 140 House Republicans intended to object to Mr. Biden’s victory. Mr. Trump has continued to falsely claim that Mr. Biden unfairly won the election because of widespread voter fraud, and has demanded that congressional Republicans work to overturn the results. But there has been no evidence of widespread impropriety, and former Attorney General William P. Barr has acknowledged that the Justice Department uncovered no such fraud that would have changed the outcome. The Supreme Court and courts in at least eight critical states across the country have similarly rejected or dismissed challenges the Trump campaign has waged in an attempt to throw out the results of the election. Those challenges have not come close to overturning the results in a single state.
https://www.nytimes.com/2020/12/31/us/politics/justice-department-mike-pence-louie-gohmert.html Justice Dept. Asks Judge to Toss Election Lawsuit Against Pence The Justice Department asked a federal judge on Thursday to reject a lawsuit seeking to pressure Vice President Mike Pence to overturn the results of the election, pitting the department against President Trump’s allies in Congress who have refused to accept President-elect Joseph R. Biden Jr.’s victory. The department, acting on behalf of Mr. Pence, said that Republican lawmakers, led by Representative Louie Gohmert of Texas, could not invalidate the more than century-old law that governs the Electoral College process to expand an otherwise ceremonial role into one that has the power to reject electoral votes that were cast for Mr. Biden. In a last-ditch bid to subvert the outcome of the election, Mr. Gohmert, along with other Republicans in Congress and electors in Arizona, filed a lawsuit against Mr. Pence on Sunday in an effort to force him to take on this expanded role. As the presiding officer of the Senate, Mr. Pence has the constitutionally designated responsibility of opening and tallying envelopes sent from all 50 states and announcing their electoral results when Congress convenes next week to certify the count. But changing his role would allow Mr. Trump to pressure his vice president to invalidate the results. The Justice Department also made clear in its filing that it welcomed any comments from the federal judge in the case, Jeremy D. Kernodle of the Eastern District of Texas, that would clarify that Mr. Pence’s role in the election was purely procedural. The White House counsel, Pat A. Cipollone, and the chief of staff, Mark Meadows, were aware the Justice Department was filing on Mr. Pence’s behalf before it happened, according to two people briefed on the discussions. If a judge were to make clear that Mr. Pence does not have the authority to reject votes or decide the results, it could alleviate pressure on him. Since the election in November, Mr. Trump has become singularly focused on the proceedings of the Electoral College. He cut short his vacation at his Mar-a-Lago estate in Florida to return to Washington early, at least in part to push Republican lawmakers to reject the results when they meet on Jan. 6 to count the votes. Should Judge Kernodle confirm that Mr. Pence has no influence over the Electoral College votes, Mr. Gohmert’s lawsuit could have the opposite of its intended effect. In its response, the department also said that Mr. Gohmert did not have standing to sue Mr. Pence over performing the duties as defined by the act; rather, he and the other plaintiffs should sue Congress, which passed the original law. The Justice Department’s move to squash an 11th-hour attempt to undo Mr. Biden’s victory could put it more at odds with Mr. Trump. The president has been furious that former Attorney General William P. Barr refused to bolster Mr. Trump’s false claims of widespread voter fraud and instead affirmed Mr. Biden’s victory. Mr. Trump’s relationship with Mr. Barr, whom he had once seen as the greatest ally he had in his cabinet, further soured after the president learned that he kept an investigation into the tax affairs of Mr. Biden’s son, Hunter Biden, under wraps during the election. Although it is department policy not to discuss investigations that could affect the outcome of an election, Mr. Trump accused his attorney general of disloyalty for not publicly disclosing the matter during the campaign. And at his final news conference, Mr. Barr said that he did not “see any reason to appoint a special counsel” to oversee a tax investigation into the younger Mr. Biden or to dig into unfounded allegations that Mr. Trump lost because of widespread voter fraud. Some inside the department believed that Mr. Barr’s statements may have helped Jeffrey A. Rosen, the acting attorney general. Mr. Rosen is likely to face tremendous pressure from the president to appoint additional special counsels and use the department’s other powers to help him undo Mr. Biden’s victory. But now the department under Mr. Rosen has taken a step that Mr. Trump may see as an overt act intended to thwart one of his allies, opening it up to possible retaliation. A Justice Department spokeswoman declined to comment.
Hey Trumptards,whats the next big lawsuit gonna be about? It's going to hard to top the ridiculousness of theTexas and Pence suits