Sedition? Perhaps It Is!

Let's start here: 18 U.S. Code § 2384 - Advocating overthrow of Government: 

If two or more persons in any State or Territory, or in any place subject to the jurisdiction of the United States, conspire to overthrow, put down, or to destroy by force the Government of the United States, or to levy war against them, or to oppose by force the authority thereof, or by force to prevent, hinder, or delay the execution of any law of the United States, or by force to seize, take, or possess any property of the United States contrary to the authority thereof, they shall each be fined under this title or imprisoned not more than twenty years, or both.

Now let's look at the facts from the Congressional Research Service:

December 8, 2020: The “Safe Harbor” Deadline The U.S. Code (3 U.S.C. §5) provides that if election results are contested in any state, and if the state, prior to election day, has enacted procedures to settle controversies or contests over electors and electoral votes, and if these procedures have been applied, and the results have been determined six days before the electors’ meetings, then these results are considered to be conclusive, and will apply in the counting of the electoral votes. This date, known as the “Safe Harbor” deadline, falls on December 8 in 2020. The governor of any state where there was a contest, and in which the contest was decided according to established state procedures, is required (3 U.S.C. §6) to send a certificate describing the form and manner by which the determination was made to the Archivist as soon as practicable.

3 U.S.C. §5 can be found here, BTW.

December 14, after the aforementioned six days, the electors in each state voted and VP Joe Biden won.

He's now President-Elect Biden. On January 20, he'll be President Joe Biden.

Now, a few (possibly?) seditious Republicans have a problem following The Constitution:

Nearly a quarter of Senate Republicans are officially preparing to challenge President-elect Joe Biden’s Electoral College win on Jan. 6, a stunning development that demonstrates just how far some in the GOP will go to align themselves with President Donald Trump’s flailing claims that the election was stolen from him.

Eleven more Republican senators announced Saturday they will challenge Biden’s election victory next week when Congress gathers to certify the Electoral College vote. The movement is led by Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas), who circulated the idea among Senate Republicans of voting against certification of the election unless there’s an election audit.

But the states' electors have been set. All the controversies (if, indeed, there were any) have been settled by the "Safe Harbor Deadline." Where in the law is the provision for "an election audit" to look for evidence that simply doesn't exist?

This has raised the hackles of at least one brave Republican and one newly-brave (because he's not seeing reelection) Republican.

First, Mitt Romney, the brave Republican:

The egregious ploy to reject electors may enhance the political ambition of some, but dangerously threatens our Democratic Republic. The congressional power to reject electors is reserved for the most extreme and unusual circumstances. These are far from it. More Americans participated in this election than ever before, and they made their choice. President Trump’s lawyers made their case before scores of courts; in every instance, they failed. The Justice Department found no evidence of irregularity sufficient to overturn the election. The Presidential Voter Fraud Commission disbanded without finding such evidence.

My fellow Senator Ted Cruz and the co-signers of his statement argue that rejection of electors or an election audit directed by Congress would restore trust in the election. Nonsense. This argument ignores the widely perceived reality that Congress is an overwhelmingly partisan body; the American people wisely place greater trust in the federal courts where judges serve for life. Members of Congress who would substitute their own partisan judgement for that of the courts do not enhance public trust, they imperil it.

Were Congress to actually reject state electors, partisans would inevitably demand the same any time their candidate had lost. Congress, not voters in the respective states, would choose our presidents.

Adding to this ill-conceived endeavor by some in Congress is the President’s call for his supporters to come to the Capitol on the day when this matter is to be debated and decided. This has the predictable potential to lead to disruption, and worse.

I could never have imagined seeing these things in the greatest democracy in the world. Has ambition so eclipsed principle?

And Pat Toomey, the newly-brave:

A fundamental, defining feature of a democratic republic is the right of the people to elect their own leaders. The effort by Senators Hawley, Cruz, and others to overturn the results of the 2020 presidential election in swing states like Pennsylvania directly undermines this right.

The senators justify their intent by observing that there have been many allegations of fraud. But allegations of fraud by a losing campaign cannot justify overturning an election. They fail to acknowledge that these allegations have been adjudicated in courtrooms across America and were found to be unsupported by evidence. President Trump’s own Attorney General, Bill Barr, stated ‘we have not seen fraud on a scale that could have effected a different outcome in the election.’

I acknowledge that this past election, like all elections, had irregularities. But the evidence is overwhelming that Joe Biden won this election. His narrow victory in Pennsylvania is easily explained by the decline in suburban support for President Trump and the president’s slightly smaller victory margins in most rural counties.

I voted for President Trump and endorsed him for re-election. But, on Wednesday, I intend to vigorously defend our form of government by opposing this effort to disenfranchise millions of voters in my state and others.

As welcome as this statement is, I defer to Lt Governor Fetterman for an appropriate reaction:

About four years late to that dance

— John Fetterman (@JohnFetterman) January 2, 2021

Make no mistake, this action by those senators is an attempt to overturn the election.  Each constitutional "i" has been dotted, each constitutional "t" has been crossed. The process is playing out as it is described in The Constitution. Any attempt to overturn that process is, by definition, an attempt to overthrow the government.

Furthermore Senators Cruz, et al, must also know that the plan is doomed to fail as any challenge to any states' electors has to be accepted by BOTH Houses of Congress and there's not a snowflake's chance in hell it'll pass the House.

No, this attempted sedition is for the MAGA-cult alone. It'll fail and they'll wail like babies over the unfairness of it all. The seditious twelve (it is twelve, right? I've lost count) know this and are playing the game for political gain.

Doesn't matter to them that they've scorched The Constitution in the mean time. Shame on them.

Shame on them forever.