« Documents unsealed in Trump University lawsuit | Main | So, What Exactly is the ABF? »
Monday, May 30, 2016
Veep, S5E6
More small developments as the season moves towards the inevitable vote in the House.
Selina must choose two failing banks to bail out and picks one of them because it is based in Illinois, a state she needs. The show still has her treating the House vote like a mini popular vote, with individual House members voting the state's interests rather than the party line.
Along those lines, Jonah's congressional campaign turns the corner when he begins criticizing the President and her poor performance. If he wins running on that platform, how might it affect his vote in the House? (Again, this is assuming he is running to become the new representative-elect for the next Congress). [Update: Jonah Ryan for Congress has a website]
Finally, we see the next step in Tom James' plan, as he is shown meeting with the Speaker of the House and the head of the lobbying firm Dan worked for (and for which James appeared to be shilling last week). Clearly James is trying to manipulate the House vote. But how? To formally get his name in the House election, he needs that faithless elector, but we do not know what has been happening with the electors. If James is trying to create a stalemate in the House as the way to become President, I go back to my original argument that he only acts as President until the House breaks that stalemate, so this seems a constitutionally unsuccessful move (and one I hope the show does not build the entire season around).
Posted by Howard Wasserman on May 30, 2016 at 09:31 AM in Culture, Howard Wasserman, Teaching Law | Permalink
Comments
NH might make a difference especially if it is in concert with another state and Meyer has some means to pressure the other NH congressperson (Jonah potentially could change a 1-1 tie to NH in her column). We shall see.
I would also toss out two things. The "rule of funny" and the basic idea that the Meyer Camp is a tad incompetent.
Posted by: Joe | May 31, 2016 9:13:01 AM
Good catch. It's all states. The initial 1801 vote was 8-6-2 in favor of Jefferson--no majority and the voting continued.
So given that, NH is not a state that can make a difference.
Posted by: Howard Wasserman | May 30, 2016 8:26:59 PM
If the Veep-universe follows the two representative rule, that's fine, but he still could be the tie-breaker to avoid 1-1 (the person who died as I recall sounded anti-Meyer). Various permutations might be possible especially if President Meyer is able to swing some single representative state.
Anyway, the 12A says "But in choosing the President, the votes shall be taken by states, the representation from each state having one vote; a quorum for this purpose shall consist of a member or members from two-thirds of the states, and a majority of all the states shall be necessary to a choice."
Majority of all states (26) or those not evenly divided?
Posted by: Joe | May 30, 2016 1:36:15 PM
Except, as I mentioned, NH has two representatives. So ensuring that this seat is filled for the House electioneither provides a meaningless second vote for either Meyer or O'Brien, or it creates a tie in the NH caucus, which enhances the chance of a House stalemate.
Unless they're setting up the following: NH would have gone one way, producing a House stalemate (e.g., 20 caucuses for Meyer, 20 (including NH via its lone rep) for O'Brien, and 10 evenly divided. But Jonah wins his race and votes for Meyer, producing a tie in the NH caucus. Now it's 20-19-11 and Meyer wins. That would mean require some serious nuance.
Posted by: Howard Wasserman | May 30, 2016 12:53:38 PM
I found a reference that there will be a new season and the final episode of this season is named "Inauguration." Let's see what that means!
There was a comment in the last thread referencing NH law that dealt with a possible interesting wrinkle on election law here. I would think the most logical effect there would be if he was the tie-breaker in the NH delegation. Shades of the movie/play 1776.
Posted by: Joe | May 30, 2016 11:06:28 AM
I found a reference that there will be a new season and the final episode of this season is named "Inauguration." Let's see what that means!
There was a comment in the last thread referencing NH law that dealt with a possible interesting wrinkle on election law here. I would think the most logical effect there would be if he was the tie-breaker in the NH delegation. Shades of the movie/play 1776.
Posted by: Joe | May 30, 2016 11:06:28 AM
The comments to this entry are closed.