If Mitch McConnell Believes He Will Remain Senate Majority Leader, He is Sadly Mistaken

Mitch might be in even more trouble than that. His power over the U.S. Senate is purely a matter of tradition. There’s no constitutional basis for it. There isn’t even a basis for it in the Senate rules.

Constitutionally, leadership of the U.S. Senate belongs to the Vice President of the United States. Here’s a short editorial that explains the situation:

How VP Harris Can Sideline Moscow Mitch

Even if the Democrats don’t win control of the Senate, there is a way to strip Mitch McConnell of his power for good: priority recognition.

According to Article I, Section 3, Clause 4 of the Constitution, the Vice President is also the President of the Senate. The Majority Leader is not a position that exists anywhere in the Constitution. The reason that the Majority Leader has near-dictatorial powers to control floor votes is because of a tradition that dates back to 1937. The tradition is that the Vice President gives the floor leaders priority recognition. Most notably, this is not a rule in the Senate.

As President of the Senate, Vice President Harris could give any senator priority recognition. That senator could then decide on all legislation that is brought before the entire Senate. Even with a minority in the Senate, Vice President Harris could simply give Chuck Schumer priority recognition. He could decide what is voted on and what isn’t.

This would change everything. Without Mitch McConnell to hide behind, the moderate Republican Senators would be forced to vote down every cabinet member, bill, resolution – everything that Harris would want done. Without McConnell, anything even remotely popular with at least two senators would pass, including getting a cabinet assembled.

I see some debate as to what the Senate rules do and do not permit. I encourage everyone to read this article on the actual written rules and why the Majority Leader is so powerful today. It should be noted, however, that unlike the House of Representatives a large part of the Senate rules is tradition. As Mitch McConnell will gladly tell you, tradition is not written rule.

Also, This wouldn’t be the first time Schumer has done something like this. And yes, while there’s the possibility of rule changes, they cannot change the Constitution. At the end of the day, Madame Vice President Harris is President of the Senate. Period. Not Mitch McConnell.

Surely not! Outrageous! That would break long-standing tradition!

Well, we’ve got a majority of congressional republicans who refuse to acknowledge the winner of a presidential election that wasn’t even close, don’t we?

And we’ve got the republican Attorneys General of 18 states essentially attempting to disenfranchise the voters of 4 other states to turn the loser into the winner, based on no credible evidence whatsoever, don’t we?

They don’t seem to much give a damn about tradition, the will of the people, the integrity of the courts, or our constitutional election process, do they?

Maybe they should crosscheck what the article says about who leads the Senate against the U. S. Constitution and Senate rules. They might be surprised what they find. Maybe the possibilities would inspire better behavior in them.