A group has brought a lawsuit seeking to block the counting of Electoral College votes from several contested states when Congress meets in a joint session on Jan. 6. The Amistad Project of the Thomas More Society filed the lawsuit on Dec. 22 arguing that the state legislatures of Pennsylvania, Michigan, Wisconsin, Georgia, and Arizona were prevented from exercising their power under the U.S. Constitution to certify the presidential electors’ votes cast on Dec. 14. The group claims that a number of federal and state laws had unconstitutionally delegated the authority of state legislatures to certify these votes to state executive branches. Under Article II of the U.S. Constitution, presidential electors must be appointed by each state in the manner prescribed by the state’s legislature. The group argues that the provision prevents state legislatures from delegating their power to state executive branch officials as a ministerial duty. “There are textual …