Desperate and Doomed

Gohmert lawsuit rightly dismissed

Republican U.S. Rep. Louie Gohmert has been in the news again. Gohmert, who represents Texarkana’s neighboring Texas 1st Congressional District, filed a federal lawsuit last week seeking to allow Vice President Mike Pence to toss out, on his own authority, certain states’ electoral votes — specifically the ones that gave former Vice President Joe Biden the victory over incumbent President Donald Trump.

For someone who claims to be a constitutionalist, the lawsuit showed downright disrepect for that document. The vice president has no such power. His role is limited to opening and reading the results of the electoral ballots. And while members of Congress can raise objections to the electoral results, the vice president, even as presiding officer of the Senate, has no such constitutional authority.

On Saturday, a federal appeals court dismissed the lawsuit. In response, Gohmert suggested to Newsmax the dismissal left the president’s supporters little recourse save for violence.

“Essentially, the ruling would be ‘You have to go to the streets and be as violent as Antifa, BLM,’” he said.

This isn’t the first time Gohmert has caught the public eye for his questionable statements or actions. It probably won’t be the last.

But this time was more than simply offbeat or embarrassing. The lawsuit showed disregard for the rule of law and the talk of violence after it was rightly dismissed — even though Gohmert almost certainly did not mean to incite any such action — was reprehensible.

Like it or not, President Trump lost the election and Biden was elected. And neither Gohmert nor any other Republican is going to change that, no matter what stunt they pull next.