A federal judge on Friday shot down GOP Texas Rep. Louie Gohmert\u2019s long-shot, last-ditch lawsuit against Vice President Mike Pence to overturn the presidential election.<\/p>\n
Gohmert\u2019s suit, which was joined by 11 Arizona Republicans who would have been electors for President Donald Trump, argued that Pence has the power under the 12th Amendment to unilaterally overturn the results of the democratic election and choose Trump to head the nation by selectively adding different electoral votes.<\/p>\n
Judge Jeremy Kernodle of the Eastern Texas district ruled that Gohmert hadn\u2019t suffered a concrete, specific injury caused by any Pence action, and consequently had no legal standing to sue. He didn\u2019t address any of Gohmert\u2019s other arguments, including his baseless claim that the presidential election was fraudulent.<\/p>\n
The \u201cspeculative nature\u201d of Gohmert\u2019s \u201calleged injury\u201d makes it \u201cfar too uncertain to support standing,\u201d Kernodle ruled.<\/p>\n
The Texas lawmaker said on Newsmax\u00a0\u2014 a far-right news network that routinely peddles baseless conspiracy theories that favor Trump\u00a0\u2014 that the judge\u2019s ruling would only leave violence as a recourse.<\/p>\n
\u201cBottom line is, the court is saying, \u2018We\u2019re not going to touch this, you have no remedy,\u2019\u201d Gohmert said. \u201cBasically, in effect, the ruling would be that you got to go to the streets and be as violent as antifa and BLM [Black Lives Matter].\u201d<\/p>\n
Gohmert said he is appealing to the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals, Politico reported.<\/p>\n
The Justice Department had argued on Pence\u2019s behalf to dismiss the suit, saying Gohmert should have sued the House or Senate if he had issues with how electoral votes are handled.<\/p>\n
But House lawyers also asked that suit be dismissed, calling it a \u201cradical departure from our constitutional procedures,\u201d and saying the proposed remedy would \u201cauthorize the Vice President to ignore the will of the Nation\u2019s voters.\u201d<\/p>\n
Gohmert had argued that Pence has the power to grant Trump a second term by simply rejecting swing states\u2019 Democratic electors and replacing them with GOP electors when the Senate and House meet on Jan. 6 to certify electoral votes. Such a situation would be a tremendous conflict of interest for the party in power.<\/p>\n
Election law experts blasted Gohmert\u2019s position that the vice president can in effect unilaterally choose whomever he wants to be president.<\/p>\n
Ned Foley, director of the election law program at Ohio State University, called the argument \u201cbreathtaking and preposterous\u201d in a tweet. \u201cThe Constitution never intended this monarchical power to disenfranchise Electoral College votes based on personal whim,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
The certification of states\u2019 electoral votes, overseen by the vice president, is usually considered a formality.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Under the Constitution and election law, Pence is supposed to open the envelopes submitted by each state and announce how many electoral votes go to each candidate.<\/p>\n
![](\"https:\/\/s.m.huffpost.com\/assets\/HuffPostHero-d783f680fb974e80346bdfa145131d058e596e1d32f791981875aa481702c770.svg\")