Trump Found SHOCKING House RULE to Keep Republican Control Even If Democrats Win Majority in Midterms

Trump Could Get GOP House Leader to Use Obscure House Procedure to Keep Republican Control Even If Democrats Win Majority in Midterms

A prominent conservative former federal judge is warning that House Speaker Mike Johnson could use an obscure congressional procedure involving the Clerk of the House to prevent Democrats from taking control of the chamber on January 3, 2027—even if they win a majority in the November midterms.

In a recent New Republic article titled “The Final Battle for America’s Democracy,” retired Judge J. Michael Luttig, a George H.W. Bush appointee to the Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals, outlined a scenario in which Johnson replaces the current House Clerk and a loyalist successor then omits certified Democratic members-elect from the official roll used to organize the new Congress.

The warning gained attention after Johnson told a Republican gathering in Dallas earlier this month: “We cannot and will not allow them to take the majority in the Congress. We’re not going to do it.” Luttig has cited the remark as a reason the public should take the possibility seriously.

WATCH HIS FULL INTERVIEW

How the procedure would work

Under House rules, the Speaker has unilateral authority to remove the Clerk. Johnson could, Luttig argues, dismiss Clerk Kevin McCumber—a career House official first appointed acting clerk by then-Speaker Kevin McCarthy—before noon on January 3 and install a temporary replacement.

That clerk prepares the “roll of representatives-elect.” Only members listed on it participate in the opening session, including the vote for Speaker. Luttig says a loyalist clerk could refuse to list certain Democrats whose elections Republicans claim were fraudulent, leaving a Republican majority in place long enough to re-elect Johnson or another Republican as Speaker.

Luttig describes the Clerk’s statutory duty as ministerial: federal law (2 U.S.C. § 26) requires listing every member-elect whose state has certified them as regularly elected. Omitting names, he writes, would immediately trigger lawsuits seeking a court order (a writ of mandamus) compelling the clerk to add them. If the clerk or House then defied the courts, the dispute could reach the Supreme Court and leave the House unorganized for weeks or months.

Luttig’s background and the historical echo

Luttig, who advised Vice President Mike Pence against attempts to block certification of the 2020 election, has called the January 3, 2027, date “the next January 6.” He says former House officers first alerted him to the concern.

Similar tactics were attempted in the 1860s. In 1865, outgoing House Clerk Emerson Etheridge, a Democrat, planned to skip enough Republican names from the roll to flip control of the chamber. The plot was blocked, in part because President Lincoln had troops ready inside the Capitol.