Since the United States Constitution mandates that the Senate must choose a president pro tempore to act in the vice president’s absence. If Pence was not there. The pro tempore would have been used. That would have been Leahy ! Leahy would have had no qualms about doing it. If Pence was there he could have refused to do it. Refused to do it as a protest. It might have been constitutionally interesting I am not sure the final result would have been any different.
The primary blame is the state legislatures. Particularly those states that have urban centers where they’ve allowed decades of vote fraud to continue because of fear of the ‘race card’.
And that's the key. That provision was put in the event the VP was actually not available for X reason(s).
Pence doesn't vanish. He's still there. Holding up the letters from the states saying he can not in good faith continue to read the votes into the record due to all the existing, and mounting, questions.
Do the dem's tell the sergeant of arms or capital police to arrest Pence on national tv? Does Leahy usurp his authority and take over Pence's job anyway like he took over the Chief Justices job?
Pence could have forced the issue. Pence should have forced the issue. The Marquess of Queensberry rules playbook needs to be tossed.