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Pro forma session definition12/13/2023 ![]() ![]() In most cases, the quorum call merely fills gaps between other Senate activities and is not intended to produce an actual quorum. But at any time any member may question the presence of a quorum, triggering a “quorum call.” During a Senate quorum call, the clerk calls the names of every member to tally attendance. The same sentence in this Clause provides that “a majority of each shall constitute a quorum to do business.” Other than roll-call voting, most business in the chambers occurs with only a handful of members in attendance. The Supreme Court held that a House of Congress may expel a member (by a two-thirds majority), but cannot exclude him for pre-election conduct. The House sought to do just that when the flamboyant Adam Clayton Powell won re-election to a New York seat. While the House and Senate may decide contested elections, they may not disqualify otherwise duly elected persons who meet Constitutional qualifications for membership. Seven months into the new Congress, the Senate declared the seat vacant and sent the matter back to New Hampshire for a fresh election. Having conducted its own recount, the Senate Rules Committee reported a resolution that would have seated Durkin, but the resolution died in the face of implacable Republican opposition. Democrat John Durkin sought redress in the Senate. In 1974, the Governor of New Hampshire certified that Republican Louis Wyman won a Senate seat by two votes. For example, a House task force took months to review the 1984 election in Indiana’s “Bloody Eighth” district, and GOP members walked out of the chamber in protest when Democrat Frank McCloskey was declared the winner over Republican Richard McIntyre by four votes out of 233,000 cast. Legislative recounts can be bitterly partisan. These high stakes determinations are immune from judicial review. ![]() Losing candidates dissatisfied with state recount procedures may petition the relevant chamber of Congress to decide the outcome. But in the modern era, this provision comes into play when there is a challenge to the state-declared winner of an election to the Senate or House. After the Civil War there were heated disputes about seating Senators from former Confederate states. The first Clause of Section 5 begins by bestowing on each House the power to “udge” the elections of its own members. Section 5 consists of four separate clauses, each of which addresses different practical aspects of legislative procedure. In Section 5, they grant Congress the power to govern itself. In the early sections of Article I they describe the membership of each House, giving life to the “Great Compromise” of the Constitutional Convention under which each state has equal representation in the Senate but population-based representation in the House of Representatives. ![]() In Article I of the Constitution, the Framers vest the legislative authority of the United States government in a bicameral Congress, and over the ten sections of the Article they systematically flesh out the structure, duties, and powers of that Congress. Neither House, during the Session of Congress, shall, without the Consent of the other, adjourn for more than three days, nor to any other Place than that in which the two Houses shall be sitting. Article I Section 5: Powers and Duties of CongressĮach House shall be the Judge of the Elections, Returns and Qualifications of its own Members,and a Majority of each shall constitute a Quorum to do Business but a smaller Number may adjourn from day to day, and may be authorized to compel the Attendance of absent Members, in such Manner, and under such Penalties as each House may provide.Įach House may determine the Rules of its Proceedings, punish its Members for disorderly Behaviour, and, with the Concurrence of two thirds, expel a Member.Įach House shall keep a Journal of its Proceedings, and from time to time publish the same, excepting such Parts as may in their Judgment require Secrecy and the Yeas and Nays of the Members of either House on any question shall, at the Desire of one fifth of those Present, be entered on the Journal. ![]()
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