Rep. Mo Brooks (R-Ala.) confirmed that he’s planning to challenge the Electoral College’s votes when Congress certifies the presidential election on Jan. 6, 2021, during the Joint Session of Congress.
At least one member of the House and one from the Senate has to challenge the counting of Electoral College votes to initiate a challenge.
Brooks argued in the report that the Nov. 3 election was compromised and “badly flawed,” and he termed mail-in voting as “unconstitutional.”
The lawmaker said it’s unlikely the Supreme Court or other courts will be able to overturn the election results, saying they don’t possess the constitutional authority.
“A lot of time is being wasted in court,” he said. “The Supreme Court does not have the lawful authority to determine whether to accept or reject a state’s Electoral College submissions. Under the United States Constitution and U.S. law, that is the job and duty of elected officials. ... And so it’s the United States Congress that is the final judge and jury of whether to accept or reject Electoral College submissions by states, and to elect who the president and vice president of the United States might be.”
“Congress has the absolute right to reject the submitted Electoral College votes of any state which we believe has such a shoddy election system that you can’t trust the election results that those states are submitting to us, that they’re suspect,” Brooks said on Nov. 18. “And I’m not going to put my name in support of any state that employs an election system that I don’t have confidence in.”
In the interview, he noted that at 1 p.m. Eastern time on Jan. 6, when the Joint Session meets, the president of the Senate—who is Vice President Mike Pence—“will report to Congress what they contend are their Electoral College results in their state.”
“If a House member and a senator objects to the submission of Electoral College votes by any state, that immediately triggers a House floor vote and a Senate floor vote on whether to accept or reject those Electoral College votes submitted by that particular state,” Brooks said before citing provisions in the U.S. Constitution for his reasoning. “The amount of debate on the House and Senate floor is limited to two hours under federal law.”
Meanwhile, President Trump’s lawyers have pushed state legislatures in Arizona, Pennsylvania, and Michigan to reassert their constitutionally given role to call up electors. They cited fraud allegations and significant irregularities presented by witnesses in recent days.
Secretaries of state in Pennsylvania, Arizona, Georgia, Michigan, and Wisconsin have said they’ve seen no evidence of fraud that would overturn the results of the election. The Electoral College is scheduled to meet on Dec. 14.
