A better coup next time
Roger Fitch on the Republican screwballs and anarchists in the House ... Protecting the insurrectionists and the Trumpenvolk ... Democracy attacked by extensive litigation ... January 6 report ... Unlawful interference by lawyers
The Constitution, Article I, says "no Person holding any Office under the United States, shall be a Member of either House during his Continuance in Office".
However, in his seminal "Constitution and What It Means Today (1973), Professor Edward Corwin opined that nothing in Article II (executive power) prevents a president forming a cabinet from the chairs of the principal committees of the house of representatives.
A cabinet post as such is not a "civil office under the authority of the United States", so a cabinet member does not "hold any office under the United States".
This sensible idea for introducing responsible cabinet government has not been tried, however: it would depend on the president having a majority in the House of Representatives, and this year it was only narrowly won by Republicans, who, with gerrymanders, don't need a majority of voters.
With a small majority, 21 party holdouts, and no Democrat support, the Republicans struggled to elect a Speaker. California representative Kevin McCarthy was finally elected on the 15th ballot, but at what cost?
A lot. A gang of quasi-anarchists got the concessions they sought for their support, and now McCarthy is saddled with "deranged disruptors", and House Rules under which his position can be spilled with one vote.
Salon observed, with only slight exaggeration, "These are not serious people dedicated to good-faith oversight. They're a nihilistic carnival act run by folks who are desperate for attention. We're in for a gruesome train wreck of a congressional session."
Perhaps that's why a congress-based cabinet would be a particularly bad idea this year; not only is the president from a different party, but there's a Republican chaos caucus in charge. The people chairing the principal committees will be predators, foxes in the henhouses of Biden government business.
The foxes have cunning kits: Ryan Zinke of Montana is joining the powerful Appropriations Committee. Zinke is returning to congress after a stint as Trump's spectacularly-corrupt secretary at the Interior Department, where he gained a considerable amount of experience in personal appropriation of government property. More here, and on House Rules, here.
Zinke: theft of government property
The Republicans have new subcommittees, e.g, the laugh-out-loud-titled "Select Subcommittee on the Weaponization of the Federal Government".
It will "launch a wide-ranging investigation into federal law enforcement and national security agencies ... to scrutinize what they said was a concerted effort by the government to silence and punish conservatives at all levels, from protesters at school board meetings to former President Donald J Trump", as the deferential Times politely reported.
Just Security and the Bulwark were less respectful.
The Democrats call the panel the "Tinfoil Hat Committee" and "Committee on Insurrection Protection", but they nevertheless agreed to serve on it. Some, however, will be blackballed in retaliation for the Democrats' rejection of Jim Jordan (now "Weaponization" chairman) as a member of the January 6 Committee.
Representative Jordan, a former wrestling champion and (presently unqualified) lawyer, will also head the powerful Judiciary Committee.
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The 80th Congress (1947-1949), one of the few congresses controlled by Republicans before 1994, was famously characterised by President Harry Truman as the "Do-nothing Congress", but that won't be said of the Republican House in the 118th, which plans to do many things: investigate (more here), interfere in the January 6 investigations, and appease the Trumpenvolk with arcane legislation destined for defeat in the Democrat-controlled senate.
As soon as the Republican majority had been sworn in and established their committees, they got right down to business, with their very first piece of futile legislation: stripping the Internal Revenue of the greatly-increased IRS funding introduced by Biden; the increased tax-enforcement resources could gravely harm the party's chief constituency, the rich.
Santos: Office of Congressional Ethics defanged
The house majority then moved on to "defanging" its Office of Congressional Ethics, to forestall sundry investigations of Republican rogues, e.g, George Santos, more here. These urgent measures were followed by more doomed legislation, fresh meat for Trump supporters such as criminalising participation of doctors in pregnancy terminations.
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"[E]ven though January 6 failed, it's become a rallying point for fascists here and abroad. They're treating it like the Alamo, a lost battle that created supposed martyrs that inspire those still fighting to believe they will eventually win ... To the MAGA movement, the insurrectionists are heroes, and they won't hear a word to the contrary" - Salon
Republicans seem to regard the January 6 coup attempt as a dress rehearsal for another (successful) Putsch, and their pseudo-legal sedition continues, e.g, in US courts. A Democracy Docket report details an extensive attack on democracy through extensive litigation brought by Republican election deniers and vote suppressors. Thus far, the courts have protected democracy.
The full report of the January 6 Committee has now been released, although both the New Yorker and Washington Post identified significant omissions, e.g, the role of social media.
The report's executive summary stated a devastating case against Donald Trump, in 17 specific findings, referring four criminal charges against Trump to the Attorney General. Also referred: Trump's lawyer, the troubled John Eastman.
No other dodgy lawyers were referred, but many lawyers' testimony was revealed, both as subjects and witnesses; the executive summary also alluded to unlawful interference in the committee's activities by legal counsel for some witnesses.
Some lawyers are already being investigated by DoJ: in a DC proceeding, a federal court unsealed documents that incriminate several lawyers, including drafts of an autobiography the DoJ quisling Jeffrey Clark is writing, more here.
Election stealer Jeffrey Clark: Trump's man at the DoJ
The "Meadows texts" of Trump's chief of staff Mark Meadows (also a lawyer) are already available and read like true-crime reports.
Just Security's January 6 Clearinghouse has the committee's transcripts, and the links to government documents are being protected and mirrored on a repository that should guard against the expected removal of the content by the new Republican congress.
Perhaps the January 6 investigations will lead to tangible reforms in the law, as happened after the (forced) departure of the last comprehensively-crooked president, Richard Nixon. One reform already in place: the Electoral Count Reform and Presidential Transition Improvement Act, passed in the closing days of the last congress.
Sadly, without personal consequences, the January 6 report means nothing to Republican conspirators; it's just a road map for a better coup next time.
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Although it's not among offences referred to the attorney general, the January 6 committee report contains plentiful testimony implicating Donald Trump in the fake electors scheme that Special Prosecutor Jack Smith is investigating, along with Trump's theft of cool (classified) keepsakes. A former war crimes prosecutor, Smith has experience indicting presidents, though no American ones.
Prosecutions of individual Capitol insurrectionists meanwhile continue, and it's clear that seditious conspiracy charges were warranted for some of them.
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