Nancy Pelosi is headed for a Supreme Court showdown for one reason she never expected
Nancy Pelosi ruled the House with an iron fist when she was Speaker.
But her ruthless leadership is coming back to haunt her. And now Nancy Pelosi is headed for a Supreme Court showdown for one reason she never expected. Former Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) enforced a mask mandate on Members of the House during the pandemic. House Members were supposed to wear a mask in the chamber unless they were speaking during a debate.
Violations of Pelosi’s mask mandate came with a $500 fine for the first offense and a staggering $2,500 for the second offense.
Rep. Thomas Massie (R-KY) refused to follow Pelosi’s nonsensical rule and threw a warning letter in the trash during the pandemic. “Just filed @SpeakerPelosi’s letter warning me to follow her mask rule,” Massie wrote on social media.
Massie and other House Republicans were fined for not following Pelosi’s rule in 2021. Pelosi was hit with a lawsuit from Massie and Reps. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA) and Ralph Norman (R-SC) for the fines she imposed on them for violating her mask mandate.
They’re petitioning the Supreme Court to weigh in on their case on whether Pelosi’s fine violates the 27th Amendment of the Constitution that says changes to Congressional compensation can’t take effect until after the next election. “In addition to concerns about pay increases, the Founders were also greatly concerned that diminishing congressional pay could be used to pressure Members from exercising independent judgment, which could prevent qualified men of modest means from serving in the new national legislature,” the House Republicans’ petition stated.
“[F]inancial retaliation against members of Congress is a tool by which Members’ independence can be degraded,” the petition continued. “It is crucial that the Twenty-Seventh Amendment be given effect, lest there be another means by which members of Congress are subjected to retaliation for their decision to act in accordance with the desires of their district rather than the desires of the Speaker of the House.” The D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled last year that Pelosi, former House Sergeant at Arms William Walker, and House Chief Administrative Officer Catherine Szpindor were immune from their lawsuit.
The House Republicans said that this ruling would make the 27th Amendment “non-justiciable” and “open the floodgates to unfathomable discipline.”
“The House Rules, under this Doctrine, could impose physical punishment, flogging, or even more medieval forms of punishment, upon members and, under the D.C. Circuit’s precedent, no judicial remedy would be available, the Eighth Amendment notwithstanding,” the petition claimed.
Now Nancy Pelosi is headed towards a day of reckoning for imposing pandemic tyranny on the House.
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