The head of the House Democratic Caucus warned Tuesday that voters should have no faith in Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) to certify this year’s presidential election results because of his role in promoting former President Trump’s false claims about the 2020 contest being “rigged.”
“He doesn’t have a track record that would indicate to the American people that he should be believed,” Rep. Pete Aguilar (D-Calif.) said during a press briefing in the Capitol.
The charge came shortly after Johnson, appearing at the same pressroom podium, had vowed to back the certification of the winner of this year’s contest between Trump and Vice President Harris — if the elections are “free, fair and safe.”
IIRC the Speaker has no role in certification. It’s the sitting VP who does that.
https://www.archives.gov/electoral-college/roles
House and Senate staff meet with OFR staff to inspect the Certificates of Vote in late December. If any State’s Certificate fails to reach the President of the Senate, the President of the Senate calls on OFR to deliver duplicate originals in its possession to complete the set held by Congress.
Congress meets in joint session in the House of Representatives on January 6 to count the electoral votes. The Vice President, as President of the Senate, is the presiding officer, whose powers are limited by Federal statute to performing ministerial duties. The President of the Senate opens the votes of the States in alphabetical order, and hands them to the appointed Tellers, who announce the results out loud. The President of the Senate then calls for any objections.
To be recognized, an objection must:
be submitted in writing
be signed by at least one-fifth of the House and one-fifth of the Senate
state clearly and concisely, without argument, one of two acceptable grounds for objection; that:
a. the electors of the State were not lawfully certified under a Certificate of Ascertainment, or
b. the vote of one or more electors has not been regularly given.
If an objection is recognized, the House and Senate withdraw to their respective chambers to consider the merits of any objections, following the process set out in 3 U.S.C. §§ 15 and 17. After all the votes are recorded and counted, the President of the Senate declares which persons, if any, have been elected President and Vice President of the United States.
I think the concern is that Johnson is one step away from the VP so if either Biden or Harris aren’t as lucky as donald has been recently then he would be the one responsible for certifying.
It’s only a line of succession if the top spot is gone.
If Biden is gone then Harris becomes president, but the VP spot remains open.
If Harris is gone then the VP spot remains open.
A new VP is then filled by someone nominated by the President and approved by the Senate. (It’s possible things could freeze here, but not by Johnson.)
AFAIK there is nothing that would make Johnson the acting VP.
Only if Biden & Harris die in a short window, moving him to President, would he be a problem.
The 25th Amendment says that a VP replacement has to be confirmed by both Houses of Congress. Johnson could absolutely fuck shit up there.
Ah my bad.
I did a little digging and it looks like the certification process is actually handled by the President of the Senate, not the Vice President. It just so happens that the President of the Senate is also the Vice President. However the President pro tempore acts as the President of the Senate if the Vice President is unavailable.
So if we had no Vice President, we would still have a President of the Senate, so things would continue as normal.
Which, considering the VP is currently a candidate, it might be the Pro Tempore stepping in.
To avoid conflicts of interest in what is supposed to be an entirely ceremonial role….
No it’s like the nemesis system in the Lord of the rings games and everyone moves up one slot! /S
Sadly they still have a patent on that, so Democracy will have to wait.
It doesn’t work that way.
If Biden is out, Harris becomes President, picks her own VP who would do the certification.
If Harris is out, well that would be a nightmare because of the election, but Biden would replace her and that VP would do the certification.
If Biden AND Harris are both lost in some kind of catastrophe, Johnson becomes President and still doesn’t certify the election because whoever he picks for VP would do that.
It’s not that neat.
According to the 25th Amendment, if there is a vacancy in the VP slot, a candidate is nominated by the President but must be confirmed by both Houses of Congress.
You can immediately see why that would be a problem if the GOP has control of either House.
Oh? I thought the whole cabinet shuffled by one. TIL.
Shuffles by one if it has to, but anyone with a boss can just be replaced because that higher authority exists.
Usually this is discussed with just the president, who has no higher authority, or in the case of mass death like nuclear war, with an assumption that we lose a good chunk of the government. But not this conversation, where VP matters more than P for certification.