Saturday’s decision by the 5th Circuit Court of Appeals of the United States came just hours after the Republican congressman filed his appeal for a previous defeat.
“We do not need to say anything more and we affirm the sentence essentially for the reasons stated by the district court. We do not express any opinion on the underlying merits or on which alleged party, if any, may have legitimacy. The motion to accelerate is rejected as debatable. The mandate will be issued immediately, “read the decision.
CNN contacted Gohmert to comment on Saturday’s decision.
The Gohmert lawsuit was part of the Republican Party’s desperate and extraordinary attempt to overturn the presidential election using unfounded and unproven allegations of mass electoral fraud and accusing several states vanquished by President-elect Joe Biden illegally changed their voting rules due to the pandemic .
Gohmert and a list of candidates for Trump’s voters in Arizona said that only Pence could decide what electoral votes count – a notable argument suggesting that vice presidents can directly determine who wins a presidential election, regardless of the results.
“(A) action to establish that the vice president has discretionary power over the count, brought against the vice president, is a walking legal contradiction,” said Pence.
“Ironically, Mr Gohmert’s position, if adopted by the Court, would actually deprive him of his opportunity as a member of the House under the Electoral Counting Law to raise objections to the counting of electoral votes and then debate and vote on them , “Pence file added.
CNN contacted Pence for comment.
“A fair and reliable audit – conducted quickly and completed well before January 20 – would dramatically improve Americans’ faith in our electoral process and significantly increase the legitimacy of whoever becomes our next president. We owe it to the people,” group of 11 Republican Party lawmakers said in a statement.
They added that the Congressional vote on January 6 is “the only constitutional power left to consider and enforce the multiple allegations of serious electoral fraud”.
There were no credible allegations of any voting problems that would have impacted the election, as claimed by dozens of state and federal courts, governors, state election officials and the departments of Homeland Security and Justice.
CNN’s Jake Tapper, Lauren Fox and Veronica Stracqualursi contributed to this report.