General Discussion

That includes Rick Wilson of the Lincoln Project, who did a recent clickbait video on the topic.

Johnson’s term as speaker, and the terms of all representatives, ends at the end of this year.

On January 3, 2027, the 435 members-elect, as certified by their respective states, will convene at the Capitol and select a new speaker, who will then swear the rest in en masse.

There is a procedure where a member-elect can object to the seating of another member-elect, and there is a reason it hasn’t been used in over a hundred years at the beginning of a new congress, not even for George Santos: because it would set off a domino effect of tit-for-tat objections resulting in not a single member being seated.

Once the members-elect are certified, the courts have no role or jurisdiction in the process of seating and swearing in representatives.

Any imaginary doomsday scenario must take these facts into consideration rather than simply jumping to the end result and proclaim “he will just do it”.