Congressman Clay Higgins and 20 GOP colleagues in the U.S. House of Representatives are filing a suit against a recently passed proxy voting rule.
The rule change allows for House lawmakers to vote by proxy instead of traveling to Washington to participate. They can assign their vote to another lawmaker, who will be at the Capitol to cast their vote.
House Democrats believed lawmakers could rely on technology to vote as the pandemic continued, while Republicans argued that it was a power grab. The rule changes were approved 217-189.
Many lawmakers have already transferred their voting power to other representatives.
Higgins, Congressman Steve Scalise, and 19 other members of Congress have joined in the suit, along with 4 constituents.
The lawmakers have published an overview of the suit, which states that, "Through the Yellow Fever of 1793, the Civil War; the burning of the Capitol during the War of 1812, the Spanish Flu of 1918, and 9/11, Congress has never flinched from its constitutional duty to assemble at the Nation’s Capital and conduct the People’s business. Congress assembles."
Congressman Higgins released a statement Tuesday night, saying, "Madame Speaker Pelosi's proxy voting scheme is completely unconstitutional. We have been working on this litigation challenge since the House Democrats clarified that they intended to actually change over 200 years of Representative Republic House procedure and greatly reduce Congress' accountability to the American people. I have been a vocal opponent against this rules change, and today we are moving forward with a solid legal challenge. Congress is mandated to meet and conduct the People's business in person. This was the clear intent of our Founders. No American has ever voted for Congressional representation by a plastic digital card. We vote for human beings. We expect to be represented by human beings. We will ultimately prevail in our determined effort to block the Democrats proxy voting plan and their overall strategy to dehumanize America."
The suit lists Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi, Clerk of the House Cheryl Johnson, and House Sergeant at Arms Paul Irving as defendants.
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