Says you. I disagree. If the only role is to open envelops, it does not require a Vice President to do it. Anyone could do it because it makes no difference who does it.
You read the article as having no effect, and the Supreme Court has long held that you cannot read any article of the Constitution as having no effect.
The Requirement to have the Vice President implicitly grants power to his office. He is not a letter opener, he is a decider of validity.
Your tune will change when Kamala’s V.P. does as you wanted Pence to do.
It does make a difference because Article II Sec I of the US Constitution says it must be the President of the Senate.
"You read the article as having no effect"
No, I read the article as the President of the Senate opens the certificates. Because that's literally what the words on the page say.
"The Requirement to have the Vice President implicitly grants power to his office. He is not a letter opener, he is a decider of validity."
If that were the case, Gore would have rejected Florida's votes in 2000 and declared himself the winner. President Gore? No thanks.
The VP doesn't count the votes. The VP doesn't decide which votes matter. The House and Senate tellers count and record the votes. You want the House and Senate tellers deciding who the President of the United States is?
The Trump and MAGA hating GOP Senate played political hot potato with the Trump hating GOP legislatures to run out the clock and get rid of Trump to get the swamp back in business.
Now their useful idiot “constitutionalists” carry water for them while they are busy stuffing their pockets with Chicom sourced lobbyist cash.