Vice President Mike Pence waving at an event held in West Palm Beach, Florida on the 22nd of last month. West Palm Beach=AP Yonhap News
The court dismissed a lawsuit filed by Republican lawmakers in an effort to press Vice President Mike Pence to cooperate in an attempt to overturn the results of the presidential election by President Donald Trump. President Trump’s persistent protest movements have been braked again.
According to the US media on the 1st (local time), Texas Federal District Court judge Jeremy Kernodle dismissed a lawsuit filed against Vice President Pence on the 27th of last month by Texas Republican Congressman Louis Gourmet. He said the plaintiff is claiming damage that is difficult to determine as being caused by the defendant, and that this lawsuit is not a matter that can be corrected. The Washington Post (WP) reported that the plaintiffs had not sufficiently demonstrated that they had a legal interest to justify the lawsuit. The New York Times (NYT) in the US also said it was judged by Kernodle that the status of Congressman Gourmet was not appropriate to sue Vice President Pence.
Congressman Gourmet argues that President-elect Joe Biden should give Vice President Pence the authority to decide the outcome of the presidential election at a joint Senate-House meeting on the 6th, when his victory is confirmed. According to the Electoral Count Act, which regulates how Congress should approve election results, the Senate and the House of Representatives hold a joint meeting to certify electoral vote results, and the Senate chairman leads the meeting. Serves as the chairman of the Senate. The core of Congressman Gourmet’s request is to give the Vice President the right to choose which electoral vote will be reflected when multiple electoral vote results are proposed at this meeting.
However, foreign media said that although the vice president presides over the meeting, it is only a ceremonial role, and even if the vice president’s authority is vaguely stipulated in the constitution, the vice president has not objected to the results of the electoral group vote for more than 130 years. The day before, Vice President Pence also requested the court to dismiss the lawsuit demanding that the Vice President has no authority to overturn the electoral vote results. It was pointed out that in order for a lawsuit to be established, the interests of the plaintiff and the defendant must conflict, but the defendant himself and the plaintiff, Rep. Gourmet, cannot have different interests.
It was President Trump’s expectation that Vice President Pence would play a certain role in changing the election results, and NYT’s analysis that this lawsuit was also intended to put pressure on Vice President Pence. But Trump’s attempts to overturn the election results in Congress failed because of the ruling, the Associated Press reported. All of Trump’s legal attempts to reverse the election results so far have been frustrated. The WP highlighted the fact that Judge Kernodle was a federal judge nominated by President Trump.
Biden won the presidential election last November by securing 306 seats, a majority of the electoral corps, and is expected to take office on the 20th.
Kwon Kyung-seong reporter [email protected]
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