[Alberta's Child]

Pence had no authority to do any such thing. As the presiding officer in a joint session of Congress he had no authority to do anything unilaterally except cast a tie-breaking vote in the Senate.

The time to fix the 2020 election farce was before the December 14th certification of the electors in every state.

This idea of giving “10 days to look into fraud” is like “15 days to flatten the curve.” The original Constitution and the 12th Amendment were explicitly written to prevent states from stalling the presidential election process.

[glimmerman70]

Then why was people saying he had the power to send it back to the state. I am not versed well on the actual powers of the constitution. I just assumed the way Trump was talking that he had the power to do so.

[babble-on]

Thank you for your service.

[DiogenesLamp]

Pence had no authority to do any such thing. As the presiding officer in a joint session of Congress he had no authority to do anything unilaterally except cast a tie-breaking vote in the Senate.

Wrong. Your opinion only, based on your assumptions and not grounded in any factual evidence.

Also helps the enemy when you keep repeating it.

Trump had constitutional scholars advising him on this point, and it is clear that the position of President of the Senate is absolutely discretionary or they would not have specified it.

It is not a formality. It is not a kabuki dance.

[Political Junkie Too]

The original Constitution and the 12th Amendment were explicitly written to prevent states from stalling the presidential election process.

And the 20th amendment gave Congress the process to deal with the "failure to qualify" of either or both of the President and Vice President within that same timeframe.

Why does nobody want to include the 20th amendment's election process when discussing Article II and the 12th amendment? It's just as relevant as the others, but it seems to be kryptonite.

At the time of the joint session of Congress to open the Electoral College votes, the 20th amendment could have been invoked, declaring that Biden and Harris "failed to qualify," and that the Congress would either appoint someone to act as President in the interim, or just keep the current President in office until the qualifications are resolved. That would have been an entirely constitutional thing to do via the 20th.

We're past that now, but it would have been the thing to do at the time.

-PJ

[Dr. Franklin]

This idea of giving “10 days to look into fraud” is like “15 days to flatten the curve.” The original Constitution and the 12th Amendment were explicitly written to prevent states from stalling the presidential election process.

Not quite. The "original constitution", meaning Article I, Sec. 1, Clause 4 did not set the date for the Electoral College to meet. That was simply left for Congress to determine, as was when and how to count the votes. Nor did the "original constitution" set the time for the start and finish of the president's term. Washington was not inaugurated until April 30, 1789. By statute from 1792, the president's term was set to begin on March 4, 1793. That remained the law until the Twentieth Amendment was approved.

I must agree with Political Junkie Too. The Twentieth Amendment provides for a "caretaker" president should the electoral vote count hang for some reason. All of the confusion comes from state legislatures passing the buck to state executive branch officials to certify election results. The state legislatures have simply shirked their constitutional responsibility in this regard. It is certainly more reasonable to demand that they concur or object to the certification of presidential electors to end any needless confusion and delay.

[Dr. Franklin]

Pence had no authority to do any such thing. As the presiding officer in a joint session of Congress he had no authority to do anything unilaterally except cast a tie-breaking vote in the Senate.

When the petition for a writ of quo warranto makes its way up to SCOTUS, watch Roberts join the liberals and write an opinion that it was Pence's job to send the electoral certifications back to the states if there was any fraud, and now it's too late to change anything.

[MayflowerMadam]

“Pence had no authority to do any such thing.”

So YOU say. Actual Constitutional experts say Pence DID have that authority, up until January 20.