Rep. Bill Pascrell (D-N.J.) is asking House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) to refuse to seat members of the next Congress who back President Trump’s effort to challenge the election.
The demand comes as more than 120 House Republicans, including Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (Calif.), have signed an amicus brief supporting Texas’s election lawsuit in the Supreme Court.
The suit is asking the court to prevent Electors from finalizing President-elect Joe Biden’s victory in Georgia, Wisconsin, Pennsylvania and Michigan.
“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 to 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,” he added.
Today I’m calling on House leaders to refuse to seat any Members trying to overturn the election and make donald trump an unelected dictator. pic.twitter.com/icTmGKCpuR
— Bill Pascrell, Jr. (@BillPascrell) December 11, 2020
Pascrell argues that the 14th Amendment prohibits members of Congress from rebelling agains the U.S., and “trying to overturn a democratic election and install a dictator seems like a pretty clear example of that.”
The text of the 14th Amendment expressly forbids Members of Congress from engaging in rebellion against the United States. Trying to overturn a democratic election and install a dictator seems like a pretty clear example of that. pic.twitter.com/VMnDfd0sFx
— Bill Pascrell, Jr. (@BillPascrell) December 11, 2020
Many Republicans have stood behind the president’s unsubstantiated claims that widespread voter fraud cost him the election and that it should be overturned, though the Texas suit itself has divided the party.
Rep. Mo Brooks (R-Ala.) said on Wednesday that he would object when Congress meets to certify the Electoral College vote.
Both parties are awaiting a decision from the Supreme Court on whether it will even hear the suit, with state electors to the Electoral College prepared to gather at state capitols to vote Monday.
The Supreme Court earlier this week rejected a bid from Pennsylvania Republicans to undo Biden’s win in the state. The order was unsigned and had no noted dissents.
Pascrell previously called for an investigation into the entire Trump administration when Biden takes office.
Pelosi’s office didn’t comment on Pascrell’s request, but in a Dear Colleague letter sent Friday evening, Pelosi said the Republicans are “subverting the Constitution by their reckless and fruitless assault on our democracy which threatens to seriously erode public trust in our most sacred democratic institutions, and to set back our progress on the urgent challenges ahead.”
Via The Hill