A federal appeals court has filed a lawsuit filed by a group of Republicans in a last-ditch effort to challenge President-elect Joe Biden’s victory.
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit on Saturday upheld a lower court’s decision to dismiss a lawsuit filed by Rep. Louie Gohmert (R-Texas) and a group of Arizona Trump supporters.
Gohmert and his allies sought to enable Vice President Mike Pence to reject the electoral college results when he oversees a Congressional session on Wednesday.
Lawmakers sued Pence – a fact even his lawyers acknowledged was strange.
“The vice president – the lone defendant in this case – is ironically the person whose power they are trying to promote,” wrote a Justice Department attorney representing Pence, according to a report in The Hill.
“A lawsuit to determine that the vice president has discretion over the count, filed against the vice president, is an ongoing legal contradiction.”
The district judge who dismissed the case on Friday found that Gohmert and the other plaintiffs were unable to prove they had been harmed by Pence’s role.
The three-judge panel of the Court of Appeal – consisting of two Republicans appointed by Ronald Reagan and another appointed by Trump – largely agreed.