Texas Republican Rep. Louie Gohmert on Monday sued Vice President Mike Pence in a last-ditch effort to overturn the 2020 presidential election.
Gohmert’s federal suit, which anticipates the House of Representatives’ Jan. 6 certification of President-elect Joe Biden’s Electoral College win, seeks to give Pence “exclusive authority” over which votes are deemed certifiable. In his complaint, Gohmert argues that since competing sets of electors cast votes calling the election for President Trump, Pence should have the “sole discretion” to determine the legitimacy of votes, per the 12th Amendment.
Gohmert added that in the case of a contested election, the Constitution requires that Pence send the election to the House for a decision.
“Vice-President Pence determines which slate of electors’ votes count, or neither, for that State,” Gohmert’s attorneys wrote, adding, “If no candidate has a majority of 270 elector votes, then the House of Representatives (and only the House of Representatives) shall choose the President.”
Republicans are confident that a contested election decided in the House would result in a Trump victory.
Gohmert filed the suit in the Eastern District of Texas, alongside the entire delegation of Trump’s so-called shadow electors in Arizona.
Rick Hasen, a professor of Law and Political Science at the University of California-Irvine, said that Gohmert’s effort is a long shot.
“This won’t work,” he tweeted.
Gohmert, along with 17 other Republican House members, in December announced their intention to challenge the Jan. 6 congressional election certification. Trump has supported that effort and encouraged people to take to the streets on that date to voice their opposition.
