Pelosi Says She Can Refuse to Seat Members of Congress If She Wants (Video)

In a new video circulating online, Speaker Nancy Pelosi said that she has the right to control who is seated in the House of Representatives and who is not. Specifically, she said that she reserves the right to refuse to seat any of the Republicans if she wished.

The comments came as Pelosi responded to questions as to whether she needed to seat the winner of the Iowa 2 race. She said that if she wanted to be unfair, she would not have seated the winner from Iowa. She said she had the right to refuse to seat the winner.

While Pelosi may believe she has the power to refuse to seat a member of Congress, she actually does not reserve this power. In a 1969 Supreme Court ruling in the case of Powell v. McCormack, the Supreme Court said that the House only had the power to remove someone by a 2/3 vote but only after that person has been seated. It seems that Pelosi believes she may have the power to overrule the Constitution and election results, but that simply is not the case.

The race in question was won by a Republican by 6 votes and was certified by the state. Democrats opened an investigation and are attempting to argue the race over 22 ballots. Republicans argue that Pelosi is attempting to steal a House seat by refusing to seat the elected and certified Rep. from Iowa.

Pelosi is attempting to secure a more certain majority in the House as the Democrats are leading by a razor-thin margin. The attempts to overturn the certified election results could have more consequences, however, as Democrats have made arguments against Republicans who have attempted to launch election investigations calling them “treasonous acts.”