Sep 20, 2024

Federal Judge Quickly Rejects Request to Allow Pence to Ignore States’ Electors and Run Ramshod over Democratic System of Voting

by Diane Lilli | Jan 05, 2021
Vice President Mike Pence Photo Source: Vice President Mike Pence, wears a protective mask while attending a mock swearing-in ceremony in the Old Senate Chamber at the Capitol in Washington, Sunday, Jan. 3, 2021. (Samuel Corum/Pool via Associated Press)

A federal judge threw out the lawsuit late Saturday that challenged President-elect Joe Biden’s victory, days before Congress was set to officially confirm the presidential election results.

Pence, as per the most recent decision by Judge Jeremy Kernodle in Texas, has no authority to tamper in any way with the results of states’ electoral votes. The judge dismissed the suit that requested the certified states’ electoral votes for the presidential race be thrown out and instead be determined by one Republican man, Trump’s vice-president and right-hand man Mike Pence.

The vice-president by law is the government official who oversees the certification of state election results. However, Pence’s role is more akin to an Oscar award host who reads aloud the winner and has zero power to change the results of the electoral votes. His role is not one of decision making but instead, that of an actor reciting an official script.

Over the weekend, the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals dismissed the case by numerous Republicans who wanted to be “alternative electors” and claimed the constitution allows Vice President Pence the legal power to chose which electors he would certify while overruling others.

As the judges of the Fifth Circuit Court noted, the plaintiffs had no legal standing to sue.

Last week, Republican Rep. Louie Gohmert of Texas filed a lawsuit to disrupt the legal electoral votes’ process. The all-Republican plaintiffs in that case, arguing to overthrow the legitimate and certified presidential election counts despite Trump’s 60 failed lawsuits that prove otherwise, are Louie Gohmert; Tyler Bowyer; Nancy Cottle; Jake Hoffman; Anthony Kern; James R. Lamon; Sam Moorhead; Robert Montgomery; Loraine Pellegrino; Greg Safsten; Kelli Ward; and Michael Ward.

In their tersely worded decision, the circuit judges stated, “The district court lacks jurisdiction because no plaintiff has the standing demanded by Article III. We need say no more, and we affirm the judgment essentially for the reasons stated by the district court. We express no view on the underlying merits or on what putative party, if any, might have standing.”

Pence was named as the defendant in the lawsuit, with the group of Republicans claiming the process by which Congress certifies states’ electoral college votes is unconstitutional.

Instead, they argued, the vice-president should decide how the votes are cast instead of relying on the states’ certified electoral votes. The Republican group requested Pence should have sole discretion in deciding who the presidential winner would be, in essence, allowing one man to overthrow the states’ electors' official votes.

Baseless claims of electoral fraud have been resoundingly defeated through the loss of Trump’s 60 lawsuits. No evidence of any electoral fraud has been uncovered.

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Diane Lilli
Diane Lilli
Diane Lilli is an award-winning Journalist, Editor, and Author with over 18 years of experience contributing to New Jersey news outlets, both in print and online. Notably, she played a pivotal role in launching the first daily digital newspaper, Jersey Tomato Press, in 2005. Her work has been featured in various newspapers, journals, magazines, and literary publications across the nation. Diane is the proud recipient of the Shirley Chisholm Journalism Award.