Rep Gomert Sues So Pence Uses His Plenary Power, 3428

I’m Still reporting on the coup.
Rep. Louie Gohmert has filed a lawsuit asking a Texas federal judge to give VP Mike Pence “exclusive authority” to decide which Electoral College votes should be counted.
Pence, in his role as President of the Senate, is believed to have the sole plenary power over the Joint Session of Congress which is responsible for observing Pence open all the Certificates, and the Votes shall then be counted.
Gomert’s lawsuit claims that any action taken by Pence on Jan. 6 to certify an Electoral College win for Biden will be considered fraudulent.
The Gohmert lawsuit asks Judge Jeremy Kernodle to determine whether Pence is authorized to pick GOP electors when both Democrat and Republican slates of dueling electors are presented.
Much of the lawsuit only reinforces what is already widely viewed as within the “plenary” powers of Pence as head of the Joint Session. However, Gohmert, knowing that Democrats will explode in anger if Pence invalidates the Democrat electors in states that saw massive election improprieties last month, seems to want some sort of specific judicial reinforcement.
The lawsuit explicitly states that the Vice President:
“… in his capacity as President of Senate and Presiding Officer of the January 6, 2021, Joint Session of Congress under the Twelfth Amendment, is subject solely to the requirements of the Twelfth Amendment and may exercise the exclusive authority and sole discretion in determining which electoral votes to count for a given State, and must ignore and may not rely on any provisions of the Electoral Count Act that would limit his exclusive authority and his sole discretion to determine the count, which could include votes from the slates of Republican electors from the Contested States….”
Most scholars believe the Constitution does give the Vice President plenary power over the proceedings for one very practical reason: to move the proceedings along expeditiously. Without someone in charge, legal wrangling could drag on for weeks or months in a closely-contested presidential election.
I’m still reporting from just outside the citadel of world freedom. Good day.