PA Republicans file suit to push through constitutional amendments
There is an election today in Tunisia. Or the appearance of one. President Kais Saied dissolved the parliament in July last year and now rules by decree, NPR reports. The revolution that turned out an autocrat 12 years ago kicked off when a fruit vendor angry that police had harassed him and confiscated his cart set himself alight in front of the governor’s office.
“How do you expect me to make a living?” Mohamed Bouazizi asked:
Twelve years later, rights groups say the only budding democracy that emerged from the 2011 Arab revolutions is now at risk of returning to autocracy under Tunisia’s President Kais Saied. He’s been consolidating power and arresting political opponents. The parliamentary election appears to be one more step toward cementing that regression.
Our democracy’s slide toward autocracy is not about something as basic as income, but about a minority political faction consolidating power. The same faction that sought to seize power in an insurrection at the Capitol on Jan. 6 last year is still trying in the states.
Republicans in Pennsylvania have filed suit against the Secretary of State to delay an already scheduled special election that would reconfirm Democrats’ control of the state’s lower chamber for the first time in 12 years. :
On Wednesday, Democratic Leader Joanna McClinton, D-Philadelphia, was sworn in as House majority leader citing the 102 House seats Democrats won in November. She then set special elections on Feb. 7 for House seats left vacant by the death of Rep. Anthony DeLuca and the resignations of Reps. Austin Davis and Summer Lee, all Allegheny County Democrats.
That prompted Republican Leader Bryan Cutler, of Lancaster County, to renew his accusation that Democrats were carrying out a “paperwork insurrection” on the basis of a majority that does not exist. Cutler filed the lawsuit to halt the elections late Friday.
House Democratic Caucus spokesperson Nicole Reigelman said the suit was the Republicans’ latest attempt to disenfranchise Pennsylvania voters and deny Allegheny County residents representation in the House.
“Under Pennsylvania law, the writ of election must be issued within 10 days of a vacancy,” Reigelman said in a statement. “Having won the majority of legislative districts in the November election – which is indisputable – Leader McClinton was sworn into the legislative session early to serve as the chamber’s presiding officer in order to meet this constitutionally-driven requirement.
But with DeLuca dead and unable to cast a vote, the Legislative Reference Bureau issued an advisory opinion Friday, saying, “Neither caucus can claim the 102 members necessary for a majority and the House is left without a majority caucus until a special election fills the vacant seat.”
Democrats won 102 House seats in this year’s midterm elections, flipping the chamber and giving Democrats a slim one-vote majority. However, a deceased lawmaker was one of the 102 Democrats elected, temporarily splitting control of the House at 101-101.
Pennsylvania Republicans hope to delay the special elections to replace Davis and Lee until the May primaries. The GOP would have “a functional majority until at least mid-February thanks to Democratic vacancies — and they’re considering using that advantage to pass a handful of far-reaching constitutional amendments,” reports WESA Pittsburgh that would help them consolidate power as a minority:
According to rank-and-file GOP lawmakers and lobbyists, there are murmurs within the caucus of plans to use their early advantage to pass at least two amendments to voters in May 2023. The amendments would impose voter ID requirements and make it easier for the legislature to override regulations.
McClinton explained her position Friday on MSNBC’s Alex Wagner tonight:
This appears to be some legal no-man’s land at least until February 7. Republicans lost big in November. Voters rejected their agenda. Still they mean to double down.
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