A federal appeals court has tossed a lawsuit filed by a group of Republicans in a last-ditch effort to challenge President-elect Joe Biden’s win. <\/p>\n
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit on Saturday upheld a lower court’s decision to dismiss a suit filed by Rep. Louie Gohmert (R-Texas) and a group of Arizona Trump supporters.<\/p>\n
Gohmert and his allies were seeking to empower Vice-President Mike Pence to reject the Electoral College results when he oversees a Congressional session on Wednesday.<\/p>\n
The lawmakers were suing Pence — a fact even his attorneys conceded was odd. <\/p>\n
“The Vice President\u2014the only defendant in this case\u2014is ironically the very person whose power they seek to promote,” wrote a Department of Justice attorney representing Pence, according to a report in The Hill.<\/p>\n
“A suit to establish that the Vice President has discretion over the count, filed against the Vice President, is a walking legal contradiction.”<\/p>\n
The district judge who tossed the case Friday had found that Gohmert and the other plaintiffs could not prove they were harmed by Pence’s role. <\/p>\n
The three-judge Appeals Court panel — made up of two Ronald Reagan-appointed Republicans and another appointed by Trump — largely agreed.<\/p>\n