Liberals are never going just to accept the fact that President-elect Donald Trump blew the election out of the water and defeated outgoing Vice President Kamala Harris, amping efforts to prevent Trump from assuming office. Many are attempting to invoke constitutional provisions or unprecedented legal maneuvers and undermine democratic principles by allowing government institutions to circumvent the will of the voters, even if that means using nuclear powers to keep him out of the Oval Office.
In an op-ed by The Hill, two left-leaning lawyers, Evan Davis and David Schulte, are urging the federal government to invoke the rarely used Section 3 of the 14th Amendment to keep Trump taking office. They argued that the incoming president’s involvement in the January 6, 2021, Capitol protests and his attempt to overturn the 2020 election results acts as an “insurrection” against the Constitution.
The unlikelihood of congressional Republicans doing anything that might elect Harris as president is obvious. But Democrats need to take a stand against Electoral College votes for a person disqualified by the Constitution from holding office unless and until this disability is removed. No less is required by their oath to support and defend the Constitution. A vote for a candidate disqualified by the Constitution is plainly in accordance with the normal use of words ‘not regularly given… no different from disqualification based on other constitutional requirements such as age, citizenship from birth, and 14 years’ residency in the United States.
To make an objection under the Count Act requires a petition signed by 20 percent of the members of each House. If the objection is sustained by a majority vote in each house, the vote is not counted, and the number of votes required to be elected is reduced by the number of disqualified votes. If all votes for Trump were not counted, Kamala Harris would be elected president.”
The attorneys wrote that to object to the Count Act, it requires a petition signed by 20 percent of the members of each House, which, if sustained by the majority vote, the vote is not counted, and the number of disqualified votes reduces the number of votes required to be elected. Therefore, they claim that Harris would become president if all the votes for Trump were not counted.
Despite the lawyer's argument, several Democrats said they would not object to Trump’s win— even those who opposed his presidency after the 2016 election.
Rep. Joe Morelle (D-N.Y.) said he would “respect the wishes of the American people” and that there would be a “pretty sort of normal transfer” of powers.
Rep. Pramila Jayapal (D-Wash.), one of the many Democrats who refused to accept Trump’s win in 2016, said she is not “intending to do that again because I think that people don’t differentiate.”
In addition, Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-Md.) said he has not spoken to a single Democrat who plans to try to prevent Trump from being inaugurated. He said if he had, he would “certainly discourage it.”
