A court threw out a lawsuit by House Republican lawmakers, and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) is welcoming the news.
House Republicans filed a lawsuit against Pelosi and other federal court officials in late-May in an effort to block remote voting by proxy on the House floor amid the coronavirus pandemic, as IJR previously reported. The effort was led by House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) and 20 other Republican lawmakers.
But, on Thursday, a federal court dismissed the lawsuit. Judge Rudolph Contreras said, “The court can conceive of few other actions, besides actually debating, speaking, or voting, that could more accurately be described as ‘legislative’ than the regulation of how votes may be cast.”
In response to the court’s move, Pelosi made it clear that “remote voting by proxy is fully consistent with the Constitution and more than a century of legal precedent, including Supreme Court cases, that make clear that the House can determine its own rules,” she wrote in a statement.
“The nation is in the middle of a dangerous pandemic and the House of Representatives must continue to work,” she added.
“The dismissal of the House GOP lawsuit is welcome news and hopefully the end of this sad Republican effort to obstruct the House from meeting the needs of the American people during the coronavirus crisis.”
The lawsuit came after Pelosi authorized the remote voting system, which allows lawmakers to vote by proxy, meaning a lawmaker can vote on the behalf of 10 members who are not able to travel to Washington, D.C.
However, McCarthy was not pleased with the proxy voting system, as he said in a statement previously, “The alternative — a small number of members dictating the businesses of the whole House while the people’s voice is diluted — is unacceptable and would only make it more difficult for Congress to respond in the national interest. We must assemble.”