An Anniversary Gift to Democracy

On January 6, Congress in joint session, led by the vice president, will meet to count the electoral votes. They are required to reject ballots which are invalid and count those which remain. This coming January, that date falls on the anniversary of Donald Trump's attempt to overturn a legitimate election by force.

According to the 14th amendment, an insurrectionist cannot take office. That renders each ballot invalid if it lists Donald Trump as the elected president. So, congress must reject those ballots.

The skeptic will say, the Supreme Court struck down that clause of the 14th! Didn't they? No, SCOTUS rejected one state's attempt to remove an insurrection from the ballot. It was a stupid decision, because it means a number of states are planning to submit invalid slates of electors to Congress. The Supreme Court of the United States said clearly, Congress must take action to reject an insurrectionist.

And on January 6, Congress is required to take that action.

The skeptic will point out, that triggers a contingent election in the House of Representatives. And obviously, a House controlled by the Republicans will vote for Donald Trump, whether he's an insurrectionist or not.

Of course Republicans would vote for the insurrectionist again, if they could. But a candidate must have at least 1 electoral vote for the House to consider them for president. When you've eliminated the invalid ballots, no votes for Donald Trump or JD Vance would remain. There would be only one, single candidate that the House could choose, and it would be the right one.