Rep. Bill Pascrell (D-NJ) is demanding that 126 House Republicans that supported a lawsuit challenging the 2020 presidential election not be seated during the upcoming congressional term that starts next month.
“Stated simply, men and women who would act to tear the United States government apart cannot serve as Members of the Congress,” Pascrell said in a statement. “These lawsuits seeking to obliterate public confidence in our democratic system by invalidating the clear results of the 2020 presidential election undoubtedly attack the text and spirit of the Constitution, which each Member swears to support and defend.”
He continued, “Consequently, I call on you to exercise the power of your offices to evaluate steps you can take to address these constitutional violations this Congress and, if possible, refuse to seat in the 117th Congress any Members-elect seeking to make Donald Trump an unelected dictator.”
In a letter to Speaker Nancy Pelosi, Pascrell noted the “courageous Reconstruction Congress implanted into our governing document safeguards to cleanse from our government ranks any traitors and others who would seek to destroy the Union.”
“Just as the American people’s clear vote in support of President-elect Biden must be respected, so too must votes cast in favor of our Members-elect,” he continued. “But the actions of any of our colleagues to demolish democracy, regardless of party affiliation, must be repudiated in the strongest possible terms. Rising from the embers of the Civil War, the Fourteenth Amendment was written to prevent the destruction of the United States from without and within. The moment we face now may be without parallel since 1860. The fate of our democracy depends on us meeting that moment.”
The 14th Amendment states:
No person shall be a Senator or Representative in Congress, or elector of President and Vice President, or hold any office, civil or military, under the United States, or under any state, who, having previously taken an oath, as a member of Congress, or as an officer of the United States, or as a member of any state legislature, or as an executive or judicial officer of any state, to support the Constitution of the United States, shall have engaged in insurrection or rebellion against the same, or given aid or comfort to the enemies thereof. But Congress may by a vote of two-thirds of each House, remove such disability.
“This week 126 republican members of Congress tried to overturn the election and have donald trump declared an unelected dictator,” he claimed. “Never ever forget it.”
This week 126 republican members of Congress tried to overturn the election and have donald trump declared an unelected dictator.
Never ever forget it. https://t.co/5zgLjv3rYL
— Bill Pascrell, Jr. 🇺🇸🇺🇦 (@BillPascrell) December 14, 2020