The Justice Department asked a federal judge on Thursday to reject a lawsuit seeking to pressure Vice President Mike Pence to overturn the election results, pitting the department against President Trump’s allies in Congress who refused to accept the president-elect Joseph R. Biden Jr victory of.
The department, acting on Pence’s behalf, said that Republican lawmakers, led by Congressman Louie Gohmert of Texas, could not invalidate the more than a century-old law that governs the Electoral College process to expand a ceremonial function into one that has the power to reject electoral votes for Mr. Biden.
In a last-minute attempt to subvert the election result, Gohmert, along with other Republicans in Congress and voters in Arizona, filed a lawsuit against Pence on Sunday in an effort to force him to assume that expanded role. As president of the Senate, Pence has the constitutionally designated responsibility to open and compute the envelopes sent from all 50 states and announce his election results when Congress meets next week to certify the count. But changing his role would allow Trump to pressure his vice president to invalidate the results.
The Justice Department also made clear in its action that it welcomed any comments from the federal judge in the case, Jeremy D. Kernodle, of the Eastern District of Texas, that clarified that Mr. Pence’s role in the election was purely procedural.
White House attorney Pat A. Cipollone and chief of staff Mark Meadows were aware that the Justice Department was filing lawsuits on Pence’s behalf before that happened, according to two people informed of the discussions. .
If a judge made it clear that Mr. Pence has no authority to reject votes or decide the results, that could ease the pressure on him. Since the election in November, Mr. Trump has focused solely on Electoral College procedures. He shortened his vacation at his Mar-a-Lago, Florida, property to return to Washington early, at least in part to pressure Republican lawmakers to reject the results when they meet on January 6 to count the votes.
If Judge Kernodle confirms that Mr. Pence has no influence on the votes of the Electoral College, Mr. Gohmert’s action may have the opposite effect to that intended.
In its response, the department also said that Mr. Gohmert had no standing to sue Mr. Pence for performing the duties defined in the law; instead, he and the other plaintiffs should sue Congress, which passed the original law.
The Justice Department’s action to crush an 11-hour attempt to undo Biden’s victory may put him more at odds with Trump.
The president was furious that former attorney general William P. Barr refused to support Trump’s false allegations of widespread electoral fraud and instead claimed Biden’s victory.
Mr. Trump’s relationship with Mr. Barr, whom he once saw as the greatest ally he had in his office, soured further after the president learned that he was conducting an investigation into Mr. Son’s tax affairs. Biden, Hunter Biden, in secret during the election. While it is the department’s policy not to discuss investigations that could affect the outcome of an election, Mr. Trump accused his attorney general of disloyalty for not publicly disclosing the matter during the campaign.
And at his last press conference, Barr said he “saw no reason to appoint a special lawyer” to oversee a tax investigation of young Biden or to dig into unfounded allegations that Trump lost because of electoral fraud.
Some members of the department believe Mr. Barr’s statements may have helped Jeffrey A. Rosen, the acting attorney general. Rosen is likely to face tremendous pressure from the president to appoint other special advisers and use the department’s other powers to help him undo Biden’s victory.
But now Rosen’s department has taken a step that Trump can see as an open act with the intention of frustrating one of his allies, opening him up to possible retaliation.
A Justice Department spokeswoman declined to comment.
Michael S. Schmidt contributed reports.