So it could potentially reach 52 hours if the Republicans object to every state Biden won along with DC and NE-2 for the full 2 hours allowed. That would be an epic shitshow 
.
I have used the zero-sum argument whenever a Trumpist crows about how great that we have a “businessman” as president. Real estate is about the most zero-sum business there is. You are trying to buy at the absolute lowest price, regardless of the effect of that price of the entity you are buying from. Likewise, you are going to use any available lever to get the maximum price from the buyer, again regardless of the effect on the purchaser. You don’t care if the seller or buyer loses big tie and goes out of business. You can probably make even more money picking up the pieces. Real estate is by nature a dysfunctional business.
Contrast that to a well run business. Yes, I try to negotiate low prices from my suppliers and high prices from my customers. But I also realize that I need both my suppliers and my customers to be successful - if I drive my supplier out of business I can no longer make my products; if I drive my customer out of business I can no longer sell my products. In either case I am also out of business. There is incentive to strive towards negotiating win-win relationships.
The statute is very prescriptive regarding what the VP must and cannot do during the joint session, specifically because the drafters recognized that the VP may well have a vested interest in the outcome of the proceedings. If the VP still tried to act in a way contrary to the requirements (for instance refusing to open the certificates of election from swing states), he could be overruled by a vote of the members of Congress.
Theoretically I suppose it could go longer than that – Republicans could object separately to each elector and force a two hour debate. But one thing to consider is that the statute forbids them from adjourning until they complete the count. If they’re still going after five days, they’re not even allowed to temporarily recess for sleep or meals.
And if in some worst-case scenario they stretched it out past January 20, all they would end up doing is making Nancy Pelosi acting president until they complete the count.
That’s not “the left” and in no way are they liberals or Democrats. They’re some combination of libertarians, anarchists, reactionaries, paranoid bombthrowers, and trolls. Most of them are despondent over the prospect loss of male and white privilege. There are various kinds of sociopaths and megalomaniacs, racists and misogynists mixed in. They’re not “our” extremists.
And the disruption and damage they’ve done to our society and institutions absolutely makes it fair game—even an imperative—to expose them. They commit crimes against people—threats, intimidation, violation of privacy, computer crimes, the list goes on.
You mean the ones who put their name to an attempt to overthrow an legitimate election? You mean the the VP who kept his mouth shut? You mean the politicians who swore to defend the Constitution and showed their word isn’t worth a thing?
Once Biden/Harris are safely sworn in, I’ll believe it.
I’ll believe it when I see it.
I recall reading that at one time juries in England could not be given “food or fire (heat)” until they had reached a verdict. Admittedly this was in a work of fiction, but I see no reason for the author to have made it up out of whole cloth. Whether or not this was true, I think it would be an admirable principle to apply to this sort of proceeding.
By banning bathroom breaks we could create the ‘Brahe Award’, given to the Doper who predicts which Congresscritter has the first bladder eruption.
Re: Trump is considering a made-for-TV finale.
If such a fucking hideous gong show ever happened, it freaking better be only Fox / OAN / Newsmax coverage.
Newsanchors / sites now (especially now, before Dec. 26) need to get it right for the lede for this story. No - not “congressional stalemate on covid bill continues”, but, instead: “Mitch McConnell is still blocking the bipartisan bill’s progress.”
If there’s a photo, it should be of him, not Congress, and it needs to be reiterated, in detail, the Democrats’ repeated attempts to accommodate the Repulicans in this latest round. Hammer this shit home - fuck those on the right if they percieve it as biased reporting - it ain’t, so fuck’em.
I did not know this, and is comforting to keep in mind approaching the 6th. I wouldn’t put anything past Mother’s husband.
You certainly wouldn’t if you happened to catch the footage of him prance-clapping on Thursday at the Georgia Magabot rally. He was mercilessly ridiculed with it on Friday.
It was pretty funny. 
OK. The members you describe do not, yet, constitute a majority of Congress. And the important thing about the joint session is that it’s structured to approve the electors certified by the states – it would take a truly extraordinary revolt supported by majorities in both chambers of Congress to overturn the Biden electors.
Like I said, I fully expect a circus but – absent tanks rolling down Independence Avenue – the joint session doesn’t present Trump much of an opportunity to reverse the election’s outcome.
I don’t know if juries were ever subjected to that, but I read once that the cardinals have sometimes been put on a diet of bread and water until it’s announced “we have a pope”.
Wisconsin state legislature withholding recount reimbursement to county officials.
If state legislatures are willing to essentially extort county officials, where exactly will they draw the line next time a demagogue like Trump attempts this? They’re still coming up with methods that stir up the base without actually change the results, but they’re getting so close to the line it’s insane. Not to mention a lot of the way elections are handled locally rely on having more people volunteer to do the work who want to uphold democracy than want to tip the scales.
Wanna bet?
It’s gonna be the Avignon Presidency.
Trump is the anti-Pres…
Really, I’m somewhat surprised the R camp is not getting the Trump electors in the battleground states to vote in separate ceremonies and send those ballots to whoever in DC gets them. Or maybe they are doing it but it hasn’t hit the news yet.
The United States military makes a very big deal of serving the Constitution, not the government.
I think this is a very real possibility, and the next logical step. The Trump electors would send their own “certificates of election” to the Joint Session of Congress. Under the statute, the Vice President is required to open and read all certificates of election and “papers purporting to be certificates of election.” Now, also under the statute, the electors certified by the relevant state authority prior to the “safe harbor” date must be the ones counted by the session. Every state managed to certify by the safe harbor date but Wisconsin.
So it shouldn’t make a difference, but Republicans will use the mere presence of two sets of electors to argue that both sets of electors should be thrown out because gosh darnit who are we to say which one’s legitimate? It won’t work, but it will further muddy the issue and feed the perception that there’s a legitimate debate over who won the election.
Somebody? I have a specific question about the process of counting electoral votes that I haven’t seen made clear: If votes are challenged and the House and Senate vote on whether to accept the challenge, does each Rep in the House get one vote, or does each state delegation get one vote?
“It ain’t over till it’s over. And even when it’s over, it ain’t over.”
(Quote seen in a college level American Gov’t textbook.)
Each Rep gets one vote. The vote-by-state-delegation is only applied when the no one gets a majority of the ECs. That’s a different situation than accepting EC ballots.
Thank you. That’s exactly the clarification I was looking for.