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Rep. Louie Gohmert, R-Texas, speaks during a House Judiciary Committee hearing on Capitol Hill in Washington, Wednesday, June 24, 2020, on oversight of the Justice Department and a probe into the politicization of the department under Attorney General William Barr<\/p><\/div>\n
A group of Republicans led by Rep. Louie Gohmert<\/a> on Monday sued Vice President Mike Pence in an unusual gambit aimed at overturning President-elect Joseph R. Biden\u2019s election victory.<\/p>\n The lawsuit claims Mr. Pence has the \u201cexclusive authority\u201d to decide which electors should be counted when Congress meets on Jan. 6 to finalize the results of last month\u2019s presidential election.<\/p>\n The certification is a largely procedural issue overseen by the sitting vice president under an arcane law from 1887 known as the Electoral Count Act. That will put Mr. Pence in the uncomfortable role of announcing a Biden victory.<\/p>\n Mr. Gohmert<\/a>, Texas Republican, argued in the lawsuit that Mr. Pence\u2019s role in overseeing the election certification also gives him the authority to decide which electors are chosen. He says Mr. Pence can select the Republican electors, who support President Trump in five states where the election results were contested.<\/p>\n Those five states have 73 electoral votes, more than enough to hand a victory to Mr. Trump.<\/p>\n \u201cUnder the Twelfth Amendment, defendant Pence alone has the exclusive authority and sole discretion to open and permit the counting of electoral votes or a given state and when there are competing slates of electors or where there is objection to any single slate of electors, to determine which electors\u2019 votes or whether none should be counted,\u201d the lawsuit says.<\/p>\n A spokesperson for Mr. Pence declined to comment.<\/p>\n The lawsuit maintains that the election results are still undecided in Arizona, Georgia, Michigan, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin. But Mr. Biden won those states by a decisive margin and his wins have already been certified.<\/p>\n Nonetheless, Mr. Gohmert<\/a> argues that Mr. Pence has the authority to select a competing set of electors sent by those states\u2019 Republican legislatures.<\/p>\n They have asked U.S. District Judge Jeremy Kernodle, a Trump appointee, to grant Mr. Pence the \u201csole discretion\u201d to decide which electors to chose.<\/p>\n