U.S. court dismisses the case against Pence over the electoral count

Trump declined to admit defeat and repeatedly wrongly argued that the result was corrupted by systematic manipulation.

Friday, a court dismissed a complaint brought by the Texas U.S. congressman and other Republicans against Vice President Mike Pence, who is due to preside over a joint session of Congress on Wednesday to formalise the outcome of the 2020 presidential election.

U.S. District Judge Jeremy D. Kernodle said Representative Louie Gohmert of Texas and Slate of Republican Presidential Electors for Arizona, who brought suit on Sunday, have no standing to bring court action to reverse the election of President-elect Joe Biden.

President Donald Trump’s spokeswoman directed requests to Pence’s office. Pence’s spokeswoman refused to comment.

Trump declined to admit defeat and repeatedly wrongly argued that the result was corrupted by systematic manipulation. He and his allies have failed scores of judicial attempts to overturn the election outcome.

Biden beat President Donald Trump by a 306-232 margin in the Electoral College and is set to be sworn in on Jan. 20.

Under the Electoral College system, “electoral votes” are allotted to states and the District of Columbia based on their congressional representation.

Some Republicans have said they plan to object to the count of presidential electors next week in Congress. Reuters reported this week the effort could trigger a lengthy debate in the Senate but has virtually no chance of overturning the results.

A Justice Department lawyer representing Pence on Thursday had urged Kernodle to dismiss the lawsuit saying they had sued the wrong person as they raised “a host of weighty legal issues about the manner in which the electoral votes for president are to be counted.”

“The Senate and the House, not the Vice President, have legal interests that are sufficiently adverse to plaintiffs to ground a case or controversy,” Pence’s filing said.