Democrat Asks Nancy Pelosi To Refuse To Seat Republican Congress Members Backing Efforts To Overturn Election
A New Jersey Democrat is calling on Nancy Pelosi to refuse to seat the Republican members of Congress who supported the now-failed efforts to overturn the results of the election and keep Donald Trump in office.
As The Hill reported, Rep. Bill Pascrell asked Pelosi to refuse to seat the more than 120 GOP members of the House of Representatives who signed an amicus brief supporting a Texas lawsuit that would have overturned results in a series of key battlegrounds won by Joe Biden. If successful, the suit would allow these states to invalidate the vote and pick their own electors, who could then choose Trump as the next president.
In a statement posted to Twitter, Pascrell accused the GOP representatives supporting the effort of trying to tear apart the U.S. government.
“Stated simply, the men and women who would act to tear the United States Government apart cannot serve as Members of the Congress,” Pascrell said in a statement posted on Twitter.
“These lawsuits seeking to obliterate public confidence in our democratic system by invalidating the clear results of the 2020 presidential election undoubtedly attack the text and the spirit of the Constitution, which each Member swears to support and defend.”
Pascrell’s request drew some immediate backing, with his call for Pelosi becoming one of the top trending topics on Twitter. Many expressed their support for the idea, with some claiming that the U.S. Constitution gives the House speaker the power to decide against seating those who supported the effort.
In a subsequent tweet, Pascrell wrote that Section 3 of the 14th Amendment was written after the Civil War to bar traitors seeking to destroy the Union. He believed this covered those who supported the lawsuit.
“My letter to House leadership today demands that 126 Republicans (and counting) are violating the Constitution,” he wrote.
The effort to overturn the election fell flat on Friday, with the Supreme Court ruling rejecting the bid. As CNN reported, a ruling against the measure was issued with no dissents, explaining that Texas had no legal right to bring the lawsuit because it failed to demonstrate a “judicially cognizable interest” to interfere in the way other states conduct elections.
As the report noted, the loss is seen as the likely end of Trump’s legal challenges to the outcome of the race, though he has not publicly acknowledged Biden’s victory and has continued to insist that he was the real winner.
