Some Democrats this week will no doubt simmer over certifying President-elect Donald Trump’s White House win, but there isn’t much they can do about it, thanks to a new law to prevent the chaos that gripped the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021.
Some Trump critics are calling on Democrats to block Mr. Trump’s win when Congress convenes Monday to certify the election results, but there’s barely a murmur of insurrection on Capitol Hill, where lawmakers must adhere to a new measure that makes such a protest much harder to pull off.
Democrats are also wary of contesting Mr. Trump’s win after spending years attacking the GOP over its efforts to block Congress from certifying President Biden’s win in 2020.
“We’re not election deniers,” Rep. Gregory Meeks, New York Democrat, said Friday as the House convened for the 119th Congress.
The Electoral Count Reform and Presidential Transition Improvement Act of 2022, passed in the wake of the 2021 Capitol riot, significantly upped the threshold for challenging the certification of the Electoral College. In past years, just one senator or representative could call for a debate and vote on certifying state results. It now requires 20% of lawmakers from each chamber to advance a challenge.
It also clarified the role of the vice president as purely ceremonial during the certification process, a response to Mr. Trump’s notorious, failed effort to get then-Vice President Mike Pence to block Mr. Biden’s win four years ago.
The new law leaves Congress poised to certify the results of a GOP presidential election win without any Democratic objections for the first time in more than a quarter century.
Trump opponents outside the Capitol won’t have much of a shot at disrupting the process, either.
Stepped-up security in the form of high fencing, extra police and 500 National Guard soldiers on standby will make it nearly impossible for a repeat of four years ago, when hundreds of angry Trump supporters stormed the Capitol in a bid to stop the certification of Mr. Biden’s victory. The melee caused significant destruction inside and outside of the building and forced lawmakers to abandon the certification and flee to safety.
The Jan. 6 certification set to take place Monday has been declared a National Special Security Event by the Department of Homeland Security, which triggers additional help from dozens of public safety agencies in addition to the U.S. Capitol Police, who say they won’t allow the 2021 riots to happen again.
“The eyes of the world will be on the United States Capitol to see what happens here on January 6,” Capitol Police Chief J. Thomas Manger said. “We’re living in a time of a heightened threat environment toward government and elected officials. Our nation’s capital is prepared to ensure that the legislative process will proceed without disruption, and our government will have a peaceful transfer of power.”
Chief Manger said the Capitol Police, who were unprepared for the 2021 riot, are now “better staffed, better trained and better equipped” to fend off angry mobs and protesters.
Inside the Capitol, Democrats, who have lodged protests against certifying every GOP presidential victor since 2000, have made no public plans to try to block the certification of Mr. Trump’s win.
Rep. Jamie Raskin, a staunch Trump foe who led one of his impeachment trials during his first term and objected on the House floor to his 2017 win, said he had no plans this time to try to get in the way of Mr. Trump’s victory.
“No election deniers on our side of the aisle. We don’t do that,” said Mr. Raskin, Maryland Democrat.
In 2021, eight Republican senators and 139 GOP House members objected to Mr. Biden’s win, citing vote-counting irregularities.
Democrats attacked the GOP for its actions despite having set the precedent.
In 2017, House Democrats objected 11 times to Mr. Trump’s electoral win over claims of Russian interference and voter suppression. Democrats also lodged objections against President George W. Bush’s narrow 2000 win and his more decisive 2004 victory, citing voting irregularities.
Mr. Trump in November won the Electoral College and the popular vote, sweeping all seven battleground states and leaving no doubt about the victor.
Still, some Democrats say he is disqualified from holding federal office because he engaged in an insurrection in 2020 by attempting to block Mr. Biden’s victory. Mr. Trump was charged in two criminal cases related to his actions in 2020, and both cases have been dismissed. He was convicted of dozens of criminal charges in New York related to a hush-money payment in a trial that critics say was politically motivated.
Last month, legal scholars David Schulte and Evan Davis urged Democrats to block the certification of Mr. Trump’s win, calling him “an oath-breaking insurrectionist.”
The two scholars, writing in The Hill, said Mr. Trump’s ineligibility was confirmed by his second impeachment trial for inciting the Jan. 6 Capitol riot.
The Colorado Supreme Court also disqualified Mr. Trump, they wrote, although the Supreme Court overturned the decision. They also cited the Jan. 6 Committee, a Democrat-led panel that found Mr. Trump unlawfully called for Mr. Pence to use his role presiding over the Senate to block Mr. Biden’s victory.
Democrats “need to take a stand against Electoral College votes for a person disqualified by the Constitution from holding office,” Mr. Schulte and Mr. Davis wrote.
• Susan Ferrechio can be reached at sferrechio@washingtontimes.com.
• Kerry Picket can be reached at kpicket@washingtontimes.com.