Posted on 12/29/2023 9:55:08 PM PST by RandFan
Rep. Thomas Massie (R-Ky.) issued a warning to states moving to keep former President Trump off the presidential ballot, saying the House of Representatives has the final say over whether electors from those states are certified on Jan. 6, 2025.
“Maine, Colorado, and other states that might try to bureaucratically deny ballot access to any Republican nominee should remember the U.S. House of Representatives is the ultimate arbiter of whether to certify electors from those states,” Massie posted Friday on X, formerly Twitter.
Billionaire Elon Musk, owner of X, replied to Massie’s tweet about certification: “Interesting.”
Trump was declared ineligible by Colorado’s Supreme Court last week and by Maine’s secretary of state on Thursday under the 14th Amendment’s insurrection clause, pointing to Trump’s denial of 2020 election results and actions leading up to a mob of his supporters attacking the Capitol building on Jan. 6, 2021, as it met to certify electors from each state.
That normally mundane certification procedure in January 2025, Massie suggested, could be the mechanism by which Congress tosses out electoral votes from Maine, Colorado and any other states where Trump is ultimately denied ballot access.
Massie has endorsed Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis in the GOP presidential primary, and in 2021 did not vote against certifying the election results from either Arizona or Pennsylvania after the mob attack.
He elaborated in a subsequent tweet that any move to toss electoral votes in 2025 would likely depend on whether Republicans keep control of the House, where they currently have a slim majority.
“That effort [in 2021] was doomed because Democrats controlled the House and Senate at that time. Republicans hold a slim majority in the House now. Whether we keep the majority remains to be seen,” Massie said.
(Excerpt) Read more at thehill.com ...
Bellows gets her best advice from Tic Toc and it shows.
That’s right. It wasn’t the Dem majority that doomed it - it was the Jan 6 fedsurrection, which was designed to keep the decertification vote from reaching the floor.
This is how they always behave.
They should pass a resolution. Give them fair warning that if the Democrats try to pull what they pulled with Abraham Lincoln (10 Democrat states refused to put Lincoln on the ballot), none of their electors will be seated.
““Maine, Colorado, and other states that might try to bureaucratically deny ballot access to any Republican nominee should remember the U.S. House of Representatives is the ultimate arbiter of whether to certify electors from those states,” Massie posted”
This could provide an easy way out for the Supremes to just let Congress sort it all out.
I foresee the opposite happening. If Trump wins the Electoral vote, and the Dems win the House, I see the Trump Electors being challenged on the grounds of Trump being ineligible to take office because he’s a 14th Amendment insurrectionist!!
FROM YOUR LIPS TO GOD’S EARS————:)
Massie is right about this. Massie stands on his principles, even when it hurts his preferred candidate or interest.
Finally, a Republican with balls
The surety bond violation probably applies to any public
official who handles..... or who has access to ......public funds.
FYI-——For starters
Any federal contract valued at $150,000 or more requires surety bonds when a contractor bids..... or as a condition of....... contract award.
Most state and municipal governments have a similar requirement.
“the House of Representatives has the final say over whether electors from those states are certified on Jan. 6, 2025. “
BOOM!
lol — forcing a House vote would have so many Rats squirming
Problem is, I don’t think they have the votes. We barely control the House, and there are too many rinos.
nypost.com
Dec 30, 2023
By Victor Nava
Federal judge (Clinton appointee) quashes
attempt to disqualify Trump from Virginia ballot
A federal judge in Virginia dismissed a lawsuit against Donald Trump that sought to remove the former President from the state’s 2024 ballots.
A federal judge in Virginia on Friday dismissed a lawsuit aimed at removing former President Donald Trump from the state’s 2024 primary ballot citing the insurrection clause of the Constitution’s 14th Amendment.
The complaint, filed by activists Roy Perry-Bey and Carlos Howard, alleged that Trump “engaged in insurrection or rebellion” against the US and should therefore be disqualified from seeking the office he once occupied.
Judge Leonie Brinkema of the Eastern District of Virginia, an appointee of former President Bill Clinton, found that the plaintiffs lacked standing to sue to get Trump, 77, off the state’s primary ballot.
“At least five additional federal courts have concluded that citizens attempting to disqualify individuals — including former President Trump — from participating in elections or from holding public office based on the January 6, 2021 attack on the United States Capitol lacked standing,” Brinkema wrote in her 13-page ruling.
“Plaintiffs have totally failed to demonstrate how their alleged injuries are traceable to the conduct of defendants,” the judge added.
Brinkema also noted that the complaint’s reliance on rulings in Colorado and Maine keeping Trump off the ballot are out of place.
“Plaintiffs’ attempt to achieve a result similar to that in Colorado cannot occur in this Court because of the nature of their direct federal constitutional claims and because of the constraints imposed by Article III that limit the jurisdiction of federal courts,” she wrote.
Earlier this month, the Colorado Supreme Court ruled that Trump was ineligible to appear on the state’s primary ballot based on Section Three of the Fourteenth Amendment.
On Thursday, Maine’s Democratic Secretary of State Shenna Bellows also disqualified Trump from the state’s 2024 ballot, citing Section Three of the Fourteenth Amendment.
Trump is expected to appeal both rulings.
The seldom-used insurrection clause was included in the post-Civil War 14th Amendment as a means to prevent former Confederate officials from becoming elected officials and taking over state governments and the federal government.
The Trump campaign celebrated Friday’s ruling.
“President Trump remains undefeated in 14th Amendment ballot challenges in federal courts with today’s ruling in the Eastern District of Virginia,” Trump campaign spokesman Steven Cheung said in a statement.
“Thus far, federal courts in West Virginia, New Hampshire, Florida, Arizona, and Rhode Island, as well as state courts in Michigan and Minnesota have jettisoned these bad-faith, politically motivated attempts to steal the 2024 election by disqualifying President Trump from the ballot,” he added.
Earlier this month, the Colorado Supreme Court ruled that Trump was ineligible to appear on the state’s primary ballot based on Section Three of the Fourteenth Amendment.
Earlier this month, the Colorado Supreme Court ruled that Trump was ineligible to appear on the state’s primary ballot based on Section Three of the Fourteenth Amendment.
Cheung accused Democrats of launching a “multi-front lawfare campaign to disenfranchise tens of millions of American voters and interfere in the election” because of the former president’s lead in several GOP primary and general election polls.
“President Trump will ultimately prevail in these unConstitutional attempts to steal the election and Make America Great Again,” his statement concluded.
America is now an idiocracy. Both political parties are worthless and will eventually drag the USA to complete ruin. The Founding Fathers expected this eventually and truly the only answer is reset per the Declaration of Independence and Constitution which means nothing to Fedgov and oblivious to most Americans.
Maine Democrat S0S Shenna Bellows explains that she, herself, personally decided, of her own volition, that Trump was “guilty of engaging in an insurrection.”
So she unilaterally dumped Trump off the Maine ballot, removed the leading Republican presidential candidate from voters’ consideration.
She gleefully says, “I could not, unfortunately—or fortunately—wait for the USSC to make a decision.”
After her self-serving action effectively disenfranchised hundreds of thousands of Maine voters, Bellows boasts about how “proud she is of Maine’s voter participation rate.”
“I smile because we were number one for voter turnout per capita in 2022...
We’re really proud of our national leadership in voter participation and citizen engagement in elections and in the democratic process.”
Democracy to a confused Bellows means unelected Democrats like herself can unilaterally decide that millions of Republicans cannot vote for the leading Republican presidential candidate.
Someone needs to tell her, the SoS job does not come with a sword and scepter.
The United States normally sanctions Banana Republics for doing what Democrats are doing right now.
Wrong. More than ties can reach a House vote. Reread the 12th. It’s long and complex, but written with insights painfully gained for a recent electoral and and designed to avoid similar future messes. It refers to a “majority of the whole number of the Electors appointed.” Which does NOT shrink and which if cannot be reached triggers the House vote.
The House can’t do anything about the GOP primaries.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.