(Congressional Agenda) – A team of three GOP representatives have requested that the Supreme Court hear a lawsuit they filed against former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, a California Democrat, over fines she imposed on members of Congress for violating the House mask mandate back in 2021. As we’ve learned in recent times, masking up did absolutely nothing to stop the spread of COVID-19. Forcing public servants to sport face diapers — along with regular Americans — was out of line.
The Daily Caller reported, “Republican Reps. Thomas Massie of Kentucky, Marjorie Taylor Greene of Georgia and Ralph Norman of South Carolina sued after they were fined $500 each for entering the House floor without masks in violation of a rule Pelosi imposed in 2020. Their petition, filed Nov. 21, asks the Supreme Court to consider whether the rule violates the 27th Amendment’s requirement that changes in compensation not take effect until after the next election.”
“In addition to concerns about pay increases, the Founders were also greatly concerned that diminishing congressional pay could be used to pressure Members from exercising independent judgment, which could prevent qualified men of modest means from serving in the new national legislature,” the trio noted in their petition addressed to the court.
“[F]inancial retaliation against members of Congress is a tool by which Members’ independence can be degraded,” the petition continued. “It is crucial that the Twenty-Seventh Amendment be given effect, lest there be another means by which members of Congress are subjected to retaliation for their decision to act in accordance with the desires of their district rather than the desires of the Speaker of the House.”
The attorneys in our lawsuit against Speaker Pelosi just filed a Petition for Cert at the Supreme Court.
Pelosi imposed salary reductions on me, @RepMTG, and @RepRalphNorman for our refusal to wear a mask in 2021. At issue: is the 27th amdt. to the Constitution even enforceable? pic.twitter.com/4sjiSGPpWN
— Thomas Massie (@RepThomasMassie) November 28, 2023
In June of this year, the District of Columbia Circuit Court of Appeals determined the Speech or Debate Clause within the Constitution makes Pelosi and other defendants named in the lawsuit such as former House Sergeant at Arms William Walker and House Chief Administrative Officer Catherine Szpindor, safe from the negative effects of the suit itself. Those who violate the Constitution are often hailed as heroes these days and get away with trashing the rights of American citizens, in Congress and out, on a regular basis.
“[W]e hold the defendants have immunity from suit because the adoption and enforcement of the Resolution were legislative acts within the jurisdiction of the House,” Judge Neomi Rao who was appointed to the bench by former President Donald Trump, stated for the majority.
The group of congresspeople then told the Supreme Court that if the lower court’s decision is allowed to stand, it would render the 27th Amendment “non-justiciable” and would “open the floodgates to unfathomable discipline.”
“The House Rules, under this Doctrine, could impose physical punishment, flogging, or even more medieval forms of punishment, upon members and, under the D.C. Circuit’s precedent, no judicial remedy would be available, the Eighth Amendment notwithstanding,” they declared.
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