RNLA Board Members Chuck Cooper and Elliot Berke are leading the legal team representing House Republicans working to stop proxy voting as approved by Democrats in the U.S. House.  As the Wall Street Journal reported:  

House Republicans planned to file a lawsuit later Tuesday against Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D., Calif.) to block the chamber’s new system of voting by proxy during the coronavirus pandemic, according to House GOP leadership aides. . . .

No Republicans voted in support of rules changes passed by the House in mid-May that will allow lawmakers to cast votes by proxy during the pandemic, and leaders had signaled a possible lawsuit. . . .

The GOP lawsuit alleges that the new rules are unconstitutional because the Constitution requires a quorum, or a majority, of lawmakers to be physically present to conduct business. The Republicans believe the Constitution’s drafters expected there to be challenges to gathering and still wanted lawmakers to physically be present to conduct business.

While House Speaker Nancy Pelosi continues to push a federal power grab for elections with the HEROES Act, the problems with her attempted election administration dictates have been exposed. Just yesterday in Pelosi’s birthplace of Baltimore, Maryland, a story came out about how one of her top priorities, vote by mail, disenfranchises people:

Nearly 1 in 10 ballots could not be delivered to Baltimore City voters during the special election in April, raising concerns for the June 2 primary, which is also being conducted by mail.

The data, released by the Maryland Board of Elections late Tuesday, shows that 20,367 of the more than 230,500 ballots sent to Baltimore City voters could not be delivered before the April 28 special election. An additional 4,355 ballots were undeliverable to Baltimore County voters, while 3,886 were not delivered to Howard County voters — about 3% of all ballots in those two jurisdictions. . . .

An additional 660 were not counted because they lacked a signature.

The deadlock and delay of economic relief for all Americans and emergency supplies for our nurses and doctors was in large part over House Speaker Nancy Pelosi's desire to mandate how elections are run.  Pelosi wanted to force all states to have 15 days of early voting, same-day registration, unlimited ballot harvesting, and universal vote by mail.  Fortunately federalism prevailed.  As Senator Mike Lee stated:

I agree with @RepThomasMassie. Regardless of what one might think about voting by mail, Congress has no authority to enact a universal vote-by-mail mandate. https://t.co/HToC9kU7z6

— Mike Lee (@SenMikeLee) March 25, 2020

Shame on you, Speaker Pelosi.  At a time when Americans were coming together, she blew up the bipartisan coronavirus relief package for her legislative desires. 

Senate spends all weekend negotiating a bipartisan deal. Agreement reached. Pelosi flies in from California, whips out her unrelated “wishlist,” and says no. Senate Democrats then vote against proceeding on a bill they negotiated.

Jaw dropping.

— Ben Williamson (@_WilliamsonBen) March 22, 2020

Senate Leader Mitch McConnell and Republican House Leader Kevin McCarthy had strong and swift reactions to Speaker Pelosi finally sending over the articles of impeachment. 

On the delay, Leader McCarthy said:

Instead of sending the articles of impeachment to the Senate for trial, Speaker Pelosi held them hostage in a failed play to gain leverage that she did not — and would never — have…

…these delay tactics were self-serving, hypocritical, and discrediting. But they made an important admission. Some might even call it a concession: Democrats did not believe their case was robust enough to win in trial…

… the idea of withholding a sloppy impeachment case to force the Senate to change its rules is constitutionally and politically unheard of. Frankly, it’s ridiculous…

Some Senate Democrats want to get on with the impeachment trial and are fed up with Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s delays and gamesmanship.  Senate Judiciary Ranking Member Dianne Feinstein (D-CA) said it most strongly:

“The longer it goes on, the less urgent it becomes,” Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.), ranking member on the Senate Judiciary Committee, told Politico.

“So if it’s serious and urgent, send them over. If it isn’t, don’t send it over.”

In Congress, Majority Leader Mitch McConnell continues to be a leader following the longstanding bipartisan tradition of the Senate. Meanwhile, Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi continue to play partisan games.  The most recent example unfolded yesterday regarding the situation in the Middle East.

Leader McConnell said yesterday on the Iranian situation:

‘I spoke yesterday about President Trump’s decision to remove the chief architect of Tehran’s terrorism from the battlefield. And I discussed the Senate’s obligation to approach this in a manner that is serious, sober, and factual.

It is right for senators to want to learn more about the president’s major decision. Once again, I encourage all our colleagues to attend the classified briefing which the administration will provide tomorrow.

‘The Secretary of Defense, the Secretary of State, the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, and the CIA Director will give classified context behind the president’s decision. And they will discuss the administration’s strategy to protect our personnel and defend our nation’s interests in the new landscape.

Speaker Pelosi’s latest partisan stunt of not sending over the Articles of Impeachment to the Senate is creating a variety of opinions on the legal ramifications but almost universal agreement that it is another bad idea for her.   Let’s sample three current and former Harvard Law professors.

Professor Noah Feldman makes the point that President Trump has not yet been impeached as a result of Speaker Pelosi’s actions.  In an op-ed entitled Trump Isn’t Impeached Until the House Tells the Senate, he states:

If the House does not communicate its impeachment to the Senate, it hasn’t actually impeached the president. If the articles are not transmitted, Trump could legitimately say that he wasn’t truly impeached at all.

While the House Democrats were dealing with their own members' anti-Semitism and trying to pass legislation to allow 16-year-olds to vote,  Senator Mitch McConnell is getting the work of the American people done in the U.S. Senate.  Last week he laid the groundwork to confirm 19 district court judges this week. 

Based on the reactions of prominent Democrats to the Supreme Court’s ruling in Rucho v. Common Cause, you’d think the end of the United States as we know it was eminent.