Page:Gohmert v. Pence (6 20-cv-660-JDK) (2021) Order.pdf/8

 “been deprived of something to which [he] personally [is] entitled,” and does not allege a “loss of any private right, which would make the injury more concrete.” Id. at 821 (emphasis in original). Congressman Gohmert’s alleged injury is “a type of institutional injury (the diminution of legislative power), which necessarily damages all Members of Congress.” Id. Under these circumstances, the Supreme Court held in Raines, a Member of Congress does not have “a sufficient ‘personal stake’” in the dispute and lacks “a sufficiently concrete injury to have established Article III standing.” Id. at 830.

For the first time in their reply brief, Plaintiffs assert that Congressman Gohmert has standing as a Texas voter, relying on ''League of United Latin Am. Citizens, Dist. 19 v. City of Boerne'', 659 F.3d 421, 430 (5th Cir. 2011). Docket No. 30 at 30, 33–34. The Court disagrees. In LULAC, the Fifth Circuit held that an individual voter had standing to challenge amendments to the City of Boerne’s city council election scheme that would allegedly deprive him of a “pre-existing right to vote for certain offices.” 659 F.3d at 430. That is not the case here. Congressman Gohmert does not allege that he was denied the right to vote in the 2020 presidential election. Rather, he asserts that under the Electoral Count Act, “he will not be able to vote as a Congressional Representative in accordance with the Twelfth Amendment.” Docket No. 2 at 4 (emphasis added). Because Congressman Gohmert is asserting an injury in his role as a Member of Congress rather than as an individual voter, Raines controls.