Lawfare senior editor Molly Roberts joins the Chuck Toddcast to walk through the "rogue clerk" scenario — the theory circulating online that House Republicans could hold power on January 3rd regardless of what voters do in November. Her piece on it has been called the most comprehensive analysis written to date, and her conclusion is genuinely nuanced: this is worth taking seriously without taking it too seriously. The mechanics matter. At noon on January 3rd the old House dissolves and, briefly, there is no House at all — only the clerk, who under 2 U.S.C. § 26 has a ministerial duty to place on the roll only those members whose credentials show they were regularly elected. Ministerial duties are enforceable by mandamus, which means courts can compel compliance before a speaker is ever seated. But the vulnerabilities are real: a speaker can unilaterally fire the clerk and install an acting one, a state certification delayed past January 3rd creates genuine chaos (Missouri is the obvious candidate), and once a speaker is elected the courts will likely bow out. She and Chuck walk through the historical precedents — the 1838 Broad Seal War, the 1984 fight over Indiana's "Bloody 8th" — and land on the reassuring and unsettling truth at once: pulling this off would require an enormous number of people at the state level and in the House conference acting in lockstep, and treating it as a foolproof hack implies it's lawful when it plainly isn't. The realistic ceiling for a rogue clerk isn't a stolen election; it's mayhem. The worry, as Roberts puts it, is that for some people mayhem is more than enough. 

link in bio or go to https://getsoul.com & enter code TODDCAST for 30% off your first order. 

Get your wardrobe sorted and your gift list handled with Quince. Don't wait! Go to https://Quince.com/CHUCK for free shipping on your order and 365-day returns. Now available in Canada, too! 

For free and unbiased Medicare help, dial (980) 734-3985 to speak with my trusted partner, Chapter, or go to askchapter.org/chuck /  *Paid Partnership

Chapter and its affiliates are not connected with or endorsed by any government entity or the federal Medicare program. Chapter Advisory, LLC represents Medicare Advantage HMO, PPO, and PFFS organizations and stand alone prescription drug plans that have a Medicare contract. Enrollment depends on the plan’s contract renewal. While we have a database of every Medicare plan nationwide and can help you to search among all plans, we have contracts with many but not all plans. As a result, we do not offer every plan available in your area. Currently we represent 50 organizations which offer 18,160 products nationwide. We search and recommend all plans, even those we don’t directly offer. You can contact a licensed Chapter agent to find out the number of products available in your specific area. Please contact 

Timeline:

(Timestamps may vary based on advertisements)

00:00 Molly Roberts joins the Chuck ToddCast

01:15 How Lawfare shifted from national security to rule of law

02:15 Could the administration steal the midterm elections?

04:45 The local certification weirdness that didn't work out

06:45 Many states tightened election procedures after 2020

08:15 A certification delay past January 3rd is the big "what if"

11:15 Why January 3rd is the key date — the 20th Amendment

12:00 At noon, the old House dissolves and there is no House

13:45 During that window, the clerk is effectively running things

15:30 What if Missouri's delegation can't get certified?

18:15 A late seating could flip the chamber

20:15 The 1984 fight over Indiana's "Bloody 8th"

22:15 If the clerk goes rogue, can courts step in?

23:15 Once there's a speaker, the courts likely bow out

26:15 The speaker can fire the clerk and install an acting one

30:00 The clerk's ministerial duty — and why it's enforceable

32:45 Can the House override a state certification?

35:15 How many people would have to cooperate to pull this off

37:00 The history of the Broad Seal War

42:00 Why the Senate is more immune to January 3rd chaos

48:00 The decisions that sustained democracy were mostly 52-48

48:45 What she tells people who ask "will the midterms be stolen?"