FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
MEDIA CONTACT:
MacKenzie Guy
(303) 292-2021
Communications@mslegal.org
LAKEWOOD, Colo. (October 16, 2024)—Today, Mountain States Legal Foundation (MSLF) filed an amicus brief in the case of Texas v. Garland, which challenges proxy voting in Congress. Our clients are Congressman Chip Roy and nine others, who witnessed the harm that proxy voting did to the institution during the COVID-19 pandemic. The case is now on appeal at the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals. This follows the Federal Government’s decision to appeal a District Court’s favorable ruling, which found that proxy voting in Congress is indeed unconstitutional.
In the original lawsuit, Texas and other plaintiffs argued that former Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi had unlawfully used proxy voting to secure legislative votes during the COVID-19 pandemic, allowing Representatives to cast votes from remote locations—including the French Riviera. The District Court ruled that this practice violated the Constitution’s requirement for in-person voting to establish a quorum.
MSLF’s latest amicus brief reinforces its argument that the Constitution mandates the physical presence of Representatives to constitute a quorum for Congressional business. The brief emphasizes that the Constitution provides no exceptions for pandemics or emergencies, a principle MSLF intends to strongly defend in the upcoming appellate proceedings.
“We look forward to expanding our arguments before the Fifth Circuit and making sure that the Court has all of the historical examples it needs to reach a favorable ruling and affirm the lower court,” said MSLF’s General Counsel, William Trachman. “The requirement for physical presence is a fundamental safeguard in our Constitution, one that helps secure due deliberation by representatives, and constrains their ability to vote without physically being in the Capitol. Legislators shouldn’t be able to govern Americans from the French Riviera.”