The roll call in the GOP’s “Crazy Caucus” appears to be getting longer every day.
Republican Congressman Andrew Clyde of Georgia is making a full-court press to unseat his Peach State colleague Marjorie Taylor Greene as the craziest member of the party with his latest stunt, a lawsuit over some $15,000 in fines for refusing to walk through newly-installed metal detectors inside the Capitol.
Joining Clyde in the lawsuit was Texas Rep. Louie Gohmert, another lawmaker known for head-scratching comments and behavior. Both men claim the extra security screenings for entering the House chamber and the subsequent fines for those who refuse to comply—are unconstitutional because they were put in place by House Speaker Nancy Pelosi to target “democratically-elected representatives who are members of the opposition party in the House of Representatives.”
The security measures they call unconstitutional were put in place after the Jan. 6 Insurrection at the Capitol, which was incited by former President Trump at a rally that day. Since then, both men have gone to extraordinary lengths to downplay the actions on Jan. 6, which led to the deaths of five people and dozens of police officers being injured by rioters.
Clyde is the lawmaker who last month actually compared the violent scene at the Capitol on Jan. 6 to a “normal tourist visit” during a congressional hearing. He refused to answer a question by CNN’s Annie Grayer when asked to stand by his previous remarks.
Gohmert tried to sue then-Vice President Mike Pence to interfere with the Electoral College and prevent Joe Biden from taking office last December. The Texas lawmaker, who critics often call the “dumbest member” of Congress, also recently wondered if we could fight climate change by altering Earth’s orbit.
Washington Post columnist Dana Milbank compared the three-way race in the GOP between MTG, Clyde and Gohmert to horse racing’s Triple Crown, with each member making a run at infamy. Read this excerpt:
"In the House of Representatives’ crazy stakes, likewise, Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-QAnon) made an early Run for the Roses with talk of Jewish “space lasers,” stalking Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.), and claiming that mask mandates are tantamount to the Holocaust. But Greene fell back into the crazy pack after Churchill Downs, and, in a surprise development, Louie Gohmert (R-Tex.), a perennial also-ran, took top honors at Pimlico by calling the Jan. 6 insurrection a nothingburger and by attending a QAnon conferenceat which the violent overthrow of the U.S. government was discussed."
Milbank called Clyde the dark horse in the race, furiously making up ground with his latest stunt. Clyde says the reason for the lawsuit, filed by former Virginial Attorney General and Trump Administration member Ken Cuccinelli, is to expose House Resolution 73 – the magnetometer rule in the House – as a danger to the republic. It also says the fines violate the Constitution’s 27th Amendment, which prohibits changing a congressional salary until after an election, as well as Article 1, which states elected members are privileged from an arrest while entering or leaving the chamber—except for treason.
Clyde claims he went around the metal detectors on Feb. 5 to avoid missing a vote on the House floor. Clyde and Gohmert’s suit also claims Pelosi has circumvented the metal screenings without getting so much as a citation, and that Democratic lawmakers consistently violate the security rules without penalty.
There have been numerous reports by various outlets since the metal detectors were installed about Republican lawmakers, including Colorado Rep. Lauren Boebert, refusing to follow the rules.
During his press conference announcing the lawsuit, Clyde seemed to be confused over the difference between a congressional committee and an actual court of law. Here’s one more section from the WaPo column:
"Clyde complained to reporters Wednesday that the House Ethics Committee, which isn’t a court of law, failed to give him his day in court. " A person cannot be fined and have their salary forcibly taken away without due process of law,” Clyde proclaimed. “In any normal court, anything else than a unanimous verdict would be cause of a mistrial or a hung jury and no fine would be levied.” Clyde was baffled by the bipartisan ethics committee’s practice of requiring majority agreement to uphold a member’s appeal. “In baseball, a tie goes to the runner,” Clyde reasoned. The committee also isn’t a baseball league."
Clyde and Gohmert could have simply let the process play out in the Capitol, because there is an actual process to appeal these fines.
According to the Daily Beast, six House members have been fined for violating security protocols, including House Majority Whip James Clyburn (D-SC). The House Ethics Committee has upheld fines against Gohmert and Clyde but agreed to dismiss fines against Clyburn and another Republican. Three other cases are still pending.
According to HR 73, lawmakers have up to 30 days to file an appeal of the fine to the House Ethics Committee. A bipartisan committee will then decide whether to dismiss the fine.
