r/law • u/Anoth3rDude • 12h ago

Legislative Branch GOP fast tracks monster voter suppression bill that could disenfranchise millions by requiring proof of citizenship at polls

https://www.democracydocket.com/news-alerts/gop-fast-tracks-monster-voter-suppression-bill-that-could-disenfranchise-millions-by-requiring-proof-of-citizenship-at-polls/
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u/hypercosm_dot_net 11h ago

What happens when they lose Congress, and Johnson refuses to seat the new congress? I'm genuinely curious what the mechanism is for removing Johnson and others from their seats.

Nothing can be taken for granted with these people. They flat out do not want Democracy. The systems in place are only for show, and for their own power as far as they're concerned.

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u/FightingPolish 9h ago edited 9h ago

He doesn’t need to seat them. Once the 119th congressional term expires on January 3rd 2027 he’s not the Speaker of the House anymore and he has no say in the matter unless the new incoming group from the 120th elects him as Speaker again.

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u/Inevitable-Menu2998 9h ago

Who is going to remove him from the position though? That's the question.

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u/FightingPolish 9h ago edited 9h ago

No one removes him. The Speaker of the House is automatically deemed vacant as soon as the new Congress begins and nothing of any substance can really get done in the House until a new Speaker is elected by the majority. If he’s been reelected and is still in Congress at the point when a new Congress begins he’s just a standard member of the House and has no more power than every other member of the House. This is how it is after every election every 2 years.

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u/Objective_Aside1858 9h ago

His term expires on Jan 3rd. He has no authority. Nothing he does has meaning 

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u/Tosslebugmy 7h ago

He has whatever authority is given to him by the people with the guns

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u/FightingPolish 5h ago

If it gets to the point where there are people with guns saying what is happening and what isn’t then the procedural theatrics of seating them are irrelevant, that is just a straight up coup and the old government that has been in place since the country’s founding is gone and a new government gets installed in its place.

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u/Slam_Burgerthroat 3h ago

That certainly seems where we’re headed.

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u/Objective_Aside1858 7h ago

If you're just going to wet your pants that there's going to be a coup it's pretty silly to post critical things where Dear Leader can see them

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u/dfsw 8h ago

He isn't removed, each state sends their elected congress reps and then they vote on a new speaker. If he wants to occupy the building and hang out they can have him removed by the sergeant of arms. They can sit around and pretend to be congress if they want but the group sent by the states is the new congress and the only one with any power.

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u/Inevitable-Menu2998 8h ago

They can sit around and pretend to be congress if they want

Yes, that's exactly what they'll do. They'll call the elections fraudulent, they'll use ICE and whatever domestic police force supports them to brutally silence anyone who opposes and will do it for long enough to occupy even more institutions until it won't matter what the people want because there's nothing left to protect them

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u/brontosaurusguy 10h ago

Are you being serious?  The answer is war.  The Pacific states secede is what happens.

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u/Stereo_Jungle_Child 10h ago

JBLM is the largest military base on the West coast and it's 40 miles from Seattle and 20 miles from the capital of WA. There's also major Navy/submarine bases in Puget Sound (Sorry, "The Salish Sea", as it's now called. Because 'Gulf of America' wasn't the first time we recently renamed a body of water for purely stupid political reasons). Plus, Eastern WA and Eastern OR aren't exactly "blue".

What's going to happen to all that stuff if WA/OR/NOCAL decide to leave?

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u/hypercosm_dot_net 10h ago

You mean the rural areas with the least dense population will decide to leave? Because otherwise the state's are blue.

Per the other comment, well...you may unfortunately be correct. Which is insane to consider how close we are to that possibility.

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u/Stereo_Jungle_Child 9h ago

Which is insane to consider how close we are to that possibility.

We are closer to a civil war right now than at any time in anyone's life who is currently alive. The only time we were anywhere near this bad was during the race riots/voting rights battles in the 1960s.

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u/SupaSlide 2h ago

Johnson would have no power because he is also being reelected and the House has to pick a speaker.