On January 6, 2021, the U.S. Home and Senate will get collectively to simply accept the electoral votes. If one Home consultant and one Senator resolve to problem the outcomes, they’re allowed to debate the votes for 2 hours, in accordance with the Electoral Depend Act. However the legislation is not clear on whether or not or not the whole debate is proscribed to 2 hours, or if they’ll debate for 2 hours per electoral vote (all 528 of them). If Ted Cruz decides to debate each electoral vote it could create a delay that may set off a cascade of occasions that may forestall Biden from ever turning into President, in accordance with Jeremy D. Mayer, an affiliate professor on the Schar Faculty of Coverage and Authorities at George Mason College.
From his essay in The Hill:
Can something be accomplished to forestall this? Nothing can cease the delay. However the last maneuver of selecting Pence by the Senate will be stopped in two methods. First, a couple of trustworthy Republican senators might vote for Vice President-elect Kamala Harris, since her ticket truly received.
That will virtually certainly imply the top of their political profession.
Failing that, Democratic senators must deny the Senate a quorum, which might imply neither chamber would have picked a winner. Underneath the twelfth Modification, two-thirds of all senators have to be current. If 34 Democrats go away the chamber, they’ll cease Pence’s choice. In the event that they do, then all of the GOP delay would have led to changing Biden with … President Nancy Pelosi.
In fact, if the GOP actually wished to maneuver America towards banana republic territory, the guidelines permit the sergeant-at-arms to arrest and drag senators again to the chamber to make a quorum. It is unimaginable to say in the event that they’d go that far, or if it might succeed.
Will Ted Cruz and the GOP try such a coup? Their base will demand it. And given the truth that the GOP has been penetration testing each attainable election course of weak spot they’ll discover, it would not be shocking in the event that they do.
Picture: By Gage Skidmore from Peoria, AZ, United States of America – Ted Cruz, CC BY-SA 2.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=65843466