Pence Betrays Constitution, Misses CPAC, Now Testing Water in SC as 47 Wannabe

Former Vice President Mike Pence defied Trump while presiding over electoral college, chose not to follow Constitution. Photo courtesy the Daily Herald.

 

Vice President Mike Pence, the second most important Republican, was noticeably absent from the conservative confab CPAC a couple of weeks ago. Why? He has no place to go. Right now Pence is unlikely to ever serve elected office again. Normally the Vice President of a popular president follows the exiting president to the highest office in the land. Not now!

Pence served honorably as Trump’s Vice President and played a major role in the development of, what should be called, the Trump Vaccine. Unlike Senators Mitt Romney, Susan Collins and Lisa Murkowski, each more Democrat than Republican, he was totally conservative, loyal, and religious. But sadly he missed his moment in time and self destructed in minutes because of his ignorance of the Constitution he swore to uphold.

But he was not alone. The Constitution was betrayed by both political parties due to ignorance, defiance of the document, or fear. On January 6 two Constitutional processes remained, either would have easily solved the election question between Donald Trump and Joe Biden, one involving the President of the Senate, Mike Pence, the other involving the House of Representatives.

In the first the Constitution reads, “The President of the Senate [Vice President Pence] shall, in the presence of the Senate and House of Representatives, open all the certificates and the votes shall then be counted” (Amendment 12). All Pence had to do when a state submitted two slates was to say. “Arizona (et al.) has submitted two slates one from its state legislature, the other forwarded by the state secretary of state signed by the governor. Since only the state legislature is recognized by the Constitution as the proper submitter, and I can not count both, I will count only it.” Since five of the six contested state legislatures were Republican the issue evaporates.

Or, he might have said instead. “Since I can only count one slate and two have been submitted, I will give Arizona (et al.) 48 hours to resubmit directly to me a new slate of the state legislature only signatures; the candidate with a majority of these signatures will be counted. If this is not received in the time allotted, I will not be able to count any electoral college votes for Arizona in the 2020 presidential election.”

Instead, Pence chose to follow a procedure not at all in the Constitution termed the objection process. This required a member of the Senate and a member of the House each objecting, then dismissing the two houses to their separate quarters for two hours of discussion rendering a decision before reuniting. A process fraught with potential problems.

The objection process was contrived in the Equity Act of 1887, ten years after the fraudulent presidential election between Samuel Tilden and Arthur B. Hayes in 1877, but the law had never been tested in a serious election as a procedure to replace the Constitution nor added to it as an amendment to the Constitution requiring 3/4th of the approval of the states as had been required in adjusting election procedure in Amendment 12.

Sadly the second and last Constitutional procedure in resolving a presidential election was defied by both political parties and the media, so ignorant or contemptuous of the Constitution were they. If Pence was unable to follow his constitutional procedure as President of the Senate as outlined above, he should have simply stated his inability to count two vote slates from the same state and turn it over to the House of Representatives as constitutionally required.

The Constitution reads. “if no person have such majority, then from the persons having the highest numbers …the House of Representatives shall choose immediately, by ballot, the President. But in choosing the President, the votes shall be taken by states, the representation from each state having one vote; … and a majority of all the states shall be necessary to a choice” (Amendment 12, U.S. Constitution).

In the House each state has only one vote for president, regardless of its size, California and Wyoming each have but one vote. Republicans controlled 28 state delegations, two more than the majority needed to win. Republicans blew this advantage entirely, Pence in particular.

Worse yet, Pence and the constitutionally ignorant Republican leader Mitch McConnell and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi essentially deleted this section of the Constitution by choosing instead a procedure not in the Constitution nor therein implied, termed the objection process. Why is this so dangerous? Past practice, once done, is the “go to” position, to maximize authority not actually in the Constitution and is the favored option for those wishing to destroy it.

Either of the two constitutional procedures remaining January 6, president of the senate or the House delegation, would have resulted in a Trump victory, hence Democrats had no interest in following the Constitution. Unfortunately Pence was too ignorant of the document or afraid to stand with it, instead he damaged the Constitution by legitimizing a procedure not in the Constitution over one, the House process, that was. One can understand why Democrats do not follow the Constitution, all gave Trump victory, but there is no excuse for the Republicans. All the Democrat’s had for a win was ballot manipulation and electronic vote switching from China.

So Pence has no place to go and could not feel good having failed the Constitution but his accomplice Mitch McConnell should not hold future elected office either. Biden holds office because of their constitutional ineptitude.

 

Dr. Harold Pease is a syndicated columnist and an expert on the United States Constitution. He has dedicated his career to studying the writings of the Founding Fathers and applying that knowledge to current events. He taught history and political science from this perspective for over 30 years at Taft College.

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