Ask Civics 101: What Happens When One Party Controls Congress and the Presidency?

Once President-elect Joe Biden is sworn in on January 20th, the Democratic Party will be in control of the presidency and both chambers of Congress. What does that mean for legislation?

Dan Cassino of Fairleigh Dickinson University breaks down the pros and cons of unified control as well as divided government.

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Civics 101 is supported in part by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting,

Breaking news from Georgia, where Democrats have picked up at least one Senate seat in the state's highly charged runoff election. CBS News projects the Reverend Raphael Warnock...

Nick Capodice:
You're listening to Civics 101. I'm Nick Capodice.

Hannah McCarthy:
I'm Hannah McCarthy.

Nick Capodice:
With a special election in Georgia cementing a Senate controlled by the Democratic Party, today, we explore this topic. What happens when one party controls the House, the Senate and the presidency?

Dan Cassino:
So this is what we in political science we call unified control.

Nick Capodice:
This is Dan Cassino, our stalwart civics Virgil and professor of political science at Fairleigh Dickinson University,

Hannah McCarthy:
Unified Control. I gotta remember that one.

Nick Capodice:
Yes. New vocab to keep in your civics back pocket. And again, unified control is when one party controls both chambers of Congress and the presidency.

Dan Cassino:
And unified control, to some extent, is the best case scenario for democracy because we don't have a division of responsibility.

Nick Capodice:
And when Joe Biden is sworn in on January 20th, we will again be in unified control. We were also in it during the first half of President Trump's term. But after the 2018 midterms, we were not in unified control. We were, and here's our second vocab term of the day, in what is called divided government.

Dan Cassino:
Democrats controlled the House. Republicans controlled the Senate and the presidency. If you don't like what's happening, who are you supposed to vote against? You don't know whose fault it is.

Hannah McCarthy:
This is something that we see this very moment. I remember during a 2020 debate, both candidates blamed the other party for not passing a covid-19 relief package.

Why haven't you been able to get them the help? 30 seconds here.

Because Nancy Pelosi doesn't want to approve it. I do.

But you're the president.

I do. But I still have to get unfortunately, that's one of the reasons I think we're going to take over the House.

Because of the Republican leader in the United States Senate said he can't pass it. He will not be able to pass it. He does not have Republican votes. Why is he talking to his Republican friends?

Hannah McCarthy:
How common is unified control? I can't remember too many times in my life that the same party had the White House and both chambers of government.

Nick Capodice:
Yeah, you're right. Divided government has been the norm in modern politics. But prior to the 1960s, with a few notable exceptions, unified control was the norm. President Woodrow Wilson and others criticized divided government for that division of responsibility. Wilson had a rather horrible quote about it. He wrote, How is the schoolmaster the nation to know which boy needs the whipping?

Hannah McCarthy:
Yikes.

Dan Cassino:
Which tells you something about pedagogy in the 1800s right. If I don't like what's happening in Congress, who am I supposed to vote against? Right. I don't know. So both parties can avoid responsibility because they can just blame on the other guy. If Nancy Pelosi doesn't push the policies you want, that's fine. You can just blame it on the Senate or blame it on the president. If the president's policies won't, you can blame it on Nancy Pelosi. There is divided accountability, and that makes it really hard. First off, for Congress to pass anything because our system is set up with multiple veto points. It's very easy to stop a bill from becoming a law and very hard to push it through. So that means it's hard to get anything done under divided government.

Hannah McCarthy:
Ok, so those are some of the downsides of divided government. Are there any potential benefits?

Nick Capodice:
Yeah, sure. The benefits of divided government aren't do different from the benefits of grand sweeping ideas like separation of powers and checks and balances. One party doesn't control everything, so there's a necessity for compromise. The branches are checking each other and so too are the parties.

Dan Cassino:
Under unified government is going to be easier to pass things through in general. But that also means that there's going to be greater accountability. After Obamacare was passed. Right. You've got the 2010 midterm election. Obamacare is pretty popular now. When was first passed, it was not at all popular. And so voters didn't have to look around, say, oh, who do I vote against? If I didn't like Obamacare, they knew exactly who to vote against. And they, in fact, did vote out Democrats in the House and in the Senate as punishment for passing bills that were unpopular at the time.

Hannah McCarthy:
I am loath to quote Spider-Man and Civics one on one episode, but it sounds like Dan's saying with great power comes great responsibility.

Nick Capodice:
The Peter Parker principle is more than apt, Hannah. That's it for today's episode. Remember to submit your questions at our website, civics101podcast.org.

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Transcript

[00:00:00] Civics 101 is supported in part by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting,

[00:00:03] Breaking news from Georgia, where Democrats have picked up at least one Senate seat in the state's highly charged runoff election. CBS News projects the Reverend Raphael Warnock...

Nick Capodice: [00:00:13] You're listening to Civics 101. I'm Nick Capodice.

Hannah McCarthy: [00:00:15] I'm Hannah McCarthy.

Nick Capodice: [00:00:16] With a special election in Georgia cementing a Senate controlled by the Democratic Party, today, we explore this topic. What happens when one party controls the House, the Senate and the presidency?

Dan Cassino: [00:00:28] So this is what we in political science we call unified control.

Nick Capodice: [00:00:32] This is Dan Cassino, our stalwart civics Virgil and professor of political science at Fairleigh Dickinson University,

Hannah McCarthy: [00:00:37] Unified Control. I gotta remember that one.

Nick Capodice: [00:00:40] Yes. New vocab to keep in your civics back pocket. And again, unified control is when one party controls both chambers of Congress and the presidency.

Dan Cassino: [00:00:47] And unified control, to some extent, is the best case scenario for democracy because we don't have a division of responsibility.

Nick Capodice: [00:00:55] And when Joe Biden is sworn in on January 20th, we will again be in unified control. We were also in it during the first half of President Trump's term. But after the 2018 midterms, we were not in unified control. We were, and here's our second vocab term of the day, in what is called divided government.

Dan Cassino: [00:01:11] Democrats controlled the House. Republicans controlled the Senate and the presidency. If you don't like what's happening, who are you supposed to vote against? You don't know whose fault it is.

Hannah McCarthy: [00:01:21] This is something that we see this very moment. I remember during a 2020 debate, both candidates blamed the other party for not passing a covid-19 relief package.

[00:01:31] Why haven't you been able to get them the help? 30 seconds here.

[00:01:35] Because Nancy Pelosi doesn't want to approve it. I do.

[00:01:38] But you're the president.

[00:01:39] I do. But I still have to get unfortunately, that's one of the reasons I think we're going to take over the House.

[00:01:43] Because of the Republican leader in the United States Senate said he can't pass it. He will not be able to pass it. He does not have Republican votes. Why is he talking to his Republican friends?

Hannah McCarthy: [00:01:55] How common is unified control? I can't remember too many times in my life that the same party [00:02:00] had the White House and both chambers of government.

Nick Capodice: [00:02:03] Yeah, you're right. Divided government has been the norm in modern politics. But prior to the 1960s, with a few notable exceptions, unified control was the norm. President Woodrow Wilson and others criticized divided government for that division of responsibility. Wilson had a rather horrible quote about it. He wrote, How is the schoolmaster the nation to know which boy needs the whipping?

Hannah McCarthy: [00:02:28] Yikes.

Dan Cassino: [00:02:28] Which tells you something about pedagogy in the 1800s right. If I don't like what's happening in Congress, who am I supposed to vote against? Right. I don't know. So both parties can avoid responsibility because they can just blame on the other guy. If Nancy Pelosi doesn't push the policies you want, that's fine. You can just blame it on the Senate or blame it on the president. If the president's policies won't, you can blame it on Nancy Pelosi. There is divided accountability, and that makes it really hard. First off, for Congress to pass anything because our system is set up with multiple veto points. It's very easy to stop a bill from becoming a law and very hard to push it through. So that means it's hard to get anything done under divided government.

Hannah McCarthy: [00:03:06] Ok, so those are some of the downsides of divided government. Are there any potential benefits?

Nick Capodice: [00:03:12] Yeah, sure. The benefits of divided government aren't do different from the benefits of grand sweeping ideas like separation of powers and checks and balances. One party doesn't control everything, so there's a necessity for compromise. The branches are checking each other and so too are the parties.

Dan Cassino: [00:03:31] Under unified government is going to be easier to pass things through in general. But that also means that there's going to be greater accountability. After Obamacare was passed. Right. You've got the 2010 midterm election. Obamacare is pretty popular now. When was first passed, it was not at all popular. And so voters didn't have to look around, say, oh, who do I vote against? If I didn't like Obamacare, they knew exactly who to vote against. And they, in fact, did vote out Democrats in the House and in the Senate as punishment for passing bills that were unpopular at the [00:04:00] time.

Hannah McCarthy: [00:04:00] I am loath to quote Spider-Man and Civics one on one episode, but it sounds like Dan's saying with great power comes great responsibility.

Nick Capodice: [00:04:08] The Peter Parker principle is more than apt, Hannah. That's it for today's episode. Remember to submit your questions at our website, civics101podcast.org.

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Made possible in part by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting.

Ask Civics 101: The Peaceful Transition of Power

It has long been a proud claim of American democracy that we are committed to a peaceful transition of power from one president to the next. That, after all is said and done, the results tallied, the legal challenges resolved, a winner is declared and certified. And that the loser will concede and we will move on to the next chapter in our government’s executive branch. Why is this process important? What is at risk when it doesn’t happen? Constitutional scholar Linda Monk once again lends a hand.

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This transcript may contain errors. Our automated transcription algorithms works with many of the popular audio file formats.

Adia Samba-Quee:
Civics 101 is supported in part by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting.

Hannah McCarthy:
President Barack Obama gave a speech to his supporters as he neared the end of his presidency.

President Barack Obama:
In 10 days

The world will witness a hallmark of our democracy. [boos] No, no, no, no, no.

Hannah McCarthy:
And to me, the best part about it is that he kind of scolds them, right?

He says, no, no, no, no, no. We don't boo an essential tenet of democracy, the peaceful transfer of power.

Thank your lucky stars that we have it. Protect it.

President Barack Obama:
The idea that for all our outward differences, we're all in this together, that we rise or fall as one.

Hannah McCarthy:
I'm Hannah McCarthy.

Nick Capodice:
I'm Nick Capodice.

Hannah McCarthy:
This is Civics 101. Today we are talking about one of the many principles that keeps our democratic heads above the authoritarian water, the peaceful transition of power.

Linda Monk:
Well, the procedures are set out in the Constitution. I mean, that's the whole reason you have a constitution, right?

Hannah McCarthy:
This is the inimitable Linda Monk, a.k.a. the Constitution Lady, a.k.a. author of The Bill of Rights, A User's Guide.

Nick Capodice:
When Linda says that the procedure is set out in the Constitution, does it literally say there will be a peaceful transition of presidential power?

Hannah McCarthy:
It does not. But Linda's point is that the Constitution does tell us that we are to hold a free and fair election and the winner of that election will become the president. And the framers put this in writing because they knew and this was before we had political parties, they knew that people would squabble and disagree, and they even feared that foreign nations might get involved trying to influence presidential elections.

Linda Monk:
Gee, what a novel idea. So the Constitution itself sets it up. That's the norm. The norm is that we've got some disagreements. We're going to have elections.

And here's how we keep the government in power.

Nick Capodice:
So this peaceful transition of power is like an unwritten rule. Here's how power will change hands. And as long as you uphold the Constitution, that power shift will be peaceful. But has it truly been peaceful throughout U.S. history?

Linda Monk:
It had been untested, really, until the defeat of John Adams.

Hannah McCarthy:
Incumbent Federalist President John Adams against his Democratic Republican vice president Thomas Jefferson. This is the election of 1800 and Jefferson wins. It was the first time a sitting president lost reelection.

Nick Capodice:
We should note, Adams was only our second president.

Linda Monk:
That was when people look to say, are we going to be able to survive a transfer of power with such diametrically opposed candidates? And then Jefferson in his inaugural speech says, we are all Federalists, we are all Republicans. It was clear what the divisions are there breaking into political parties. And Jefferson tries to bring the nation together, saying essentially, we're all Americans.

Nick Capodice:
Which is what Barack Obama was getting at in that speech.

Isn't it that accepting election results and letting someone else take up the mantle is what helps us to keep a functioning democracy.

Hannah McCarthy:
Even when people are very, very sore losers.

Like when Abraham Lincoln won the presidency in 1860 and seven states seceded.\

Linda Monk:
There was a peaceful transfer of power.

But then the unsuccessful states decided to declare their own nation.

Nick Capodice:
So even on the verge of a civil war and I know there was even a failed assassination plot against Lincoln, but it was accepted that one person lost the other one and the winner would be president.

Hannah McCarthy:
And his opponents did not refuse to acknowledge that he had won. They just made for the hills after he did. No presidential candidate in American history has ever refused to concede to the victor. Until 2020.

Linda Monk:
It's a time of grieving right now. Grieving is necessary because we have forever lost our calling to a peaceful transfer of power through an election. That's forever. Now, maybe that'll make us more humble about what's required to do that and more protective of our electoral process, because all we have to do is look around the world and see where those kind of challenges happen and what the consequences are. May maybe now we've been given a taste of that medicine and instead of bragging about it, will be servants to it.

Hannah McCarthy:
That about does it for the peaceful transition of power. For this episode.

Nick Capodice:
I mean, if any of you have questions about how things are going around here, just ask us drop us a line at Civics101@nhpr.org. We're in this with you.

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Made possible in part by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting.

Ask Civics 101: The 25th Amendment

NOTE: There is an updated version of this topic published in an episode we published in 2022

Members of Congress from both parties have requested that the Vice President invoke the 25th Amendment to remove President Trump from office. Today we explore all four parts of this relatively new amendment with constitutional scholar and author of The Bill of Rights: A Users Guide, Linda Monk.

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Civics 101 is supported in part by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting.

Here's the truth. The president caused this. The president is unfit and the president is unwell. The president must now relinquish control of the executive branch voluntarily or involuntarily.

Nick Capodice:
You're listening to Civics 101. I'm Nick Capodice.

Hannah McCarthy:
I'm Hannah McCarthy.

Nick Capodice:
And that was a clip of Republican Congressman Adam Kinzinger from Illinois. On January 7th, 2021, he was calling for the vice president and the cabinet to invoke the 25th Amendment. So today we're going to try to explain the 25th as best as we can, why it was created, what it is and how it works.

Hannah McCarthy:
All right. So let's get to it. What does the 25th Amendment say?

Linda Monk:
The 25th Amendment? And I, I, I'm thinking that unlike in past times, we don't have to have me read all the words, the word like I've insisted sometimes.

Nick Capodice:
This is a dear friend to the show and a constitutional scholar who has in the past insisted things be read to the letter. Linda Monk, author of Bill of Rights A User's Guide.

Linda Monk:
But in general, the 25th Amendment is, well, long, relatively speaking, has four sections, the first of which says something that had been in practice but hadn't been in the Constitution, which is if something happens to the president, the vice president becomes president. Now, like a lot of other things in the 25th Amendment, there had already been precedents before the amendment comes in place, which is really kind of late.

Hannah McCarthy:
Late, like how late?

Nick Capodice:
The amendment wasn't ratified until 1967. The reason it was written in the first place was the Kennedy assassination in 1963. Lyndon Johnson became president after the death of JFK, but he himself had suffered a heart attack and the next people in the order of succession were quite elderly. So they wanted to lay out how to fill the office of the vice president during an administration.

Hannah McCarthy:
Ok, the first part Linda told us about that the vice president becomes president if the president dies, resigns or is removed from office, what are the other three parts?

Nick Capodice:
All right. The second part says that if there is a vacancy in the vice president's office, the president appoints a new one with majority approval of both chambers of Congress. The third part says the veep can become president if the president themself submits a written statement that they're not going to be able to perform their job.

Hannah McCarthy:
Has this part ever been formally invoked?

Nick Capodice:
Yeah, sure. A handful of times. George H.W. Bush underwent surgery and he signed the request to make Dan Quayle president for a short time. And then his son, George W. Bush, did the same thing. He invoked the 25th twice for medical procedures, making Dick Cheney temporary president.

"Because the president will be under the effects of anesthesia, he once again is elected to implement Section three of the 25th Amendment to the United States Constitution. Once enacted, the vice president will serve as acting..."

Nick Capodice:
But then we get to the very long, very tricky fourth part of the amendment,

Hannah McCarthy:
And this is the part about someone else declaring the president unfit to perform their office, right?

Nick Capodice:
Yeah.

Linda Monk:
If the president can't perform his or her job, who does it? And is that provided for in the Constitution? The 25th Amendment puts the constitutional language in. That said, it has not been invoked in terms of presidential disability. I want to focus on that part of it, because that's what we're talking about now. And we talk about disability as though it's physical disability. But I think what the current controversy about President Trump is raising is whether or not the president is capable of carrying out...now, maybe that's not a physical disability. Maybe that's other kinds of capabilities. And as we know now, The Washington Post has issued an editorial calling for the 25th Amendment to be invoked. Both Republican and Democratic members of Congress have. And I'll just cut to the chase in terms of what I think is likely to happen there. The language is, is that a majority of the cabinet and the vice president have to be involved if it starts within the executive branch. If the president doesn't go along, it goes to Congress anyway and has to be a two thirds vote. That's a pretty big vote.

Hannah McCarthy:
So the vice president and a majority of the cabinet have to initiate it. And if the president disagrees and says, hey, no, I'm totally capable of being president, it then goes to Congress for that two thirds vote.

Nick Capodice:
Two thirds in both chambers.

Hannah McCarthy:
What about all those cabinet members who are talking about resigning in the wake of the attempted insurrection on January 6th who cast their vote?

Nick Capodice:
Ok, I don't want this to sound like a cop out. This is truly a murky constitutional area because the fourth section of the 25th Amendment has never been invoked before. The phrase in the amendment is, "a majority of the principal officers of the executive departments." So that is the cabinet. But they didn't specify who those principal officers are. A nineteen eighty five memo from the Justice Department interpreted it to mean the core cabinet secretaries, and one scholar I reached out to said this is all based on old Department of Justice memos in the 1960s. So we are flying in some heavy fog.

Linda Monk:
This is where I think Alexis de Tocqueville said it never ceases to amaze him how wonderful the Americans were at ignoring and avoiding the contradictions of their constitution. Oftentimes in our constitutional interpretation, it's what the political actors choose to do and that that is part of the Constitution. It's not just supposed to be automatic words on paper. It's people exercising their judgment. And at a time like this, when there's so much strife and so much division, that's never more called for.

Nick Capodice:
That's the 25th Amendment, if you have any other questions about how our democracy works, just drop us a line at Civics101podcast.org.

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Transcript

[00:00:00] Civics 101 is supported in part by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting.

[00:00:05] Here's the truth. The president caused this. The president is unfit and the president is unwell. The president must now relinquish control of the executive branch voluntarily or involuntarily.

Nick Capodice: [00:00:17] You're listening to Civics 101. I'm Nick Capodice.

Hannah McCarthy: [00:00:19] I'm Hannah McCarthy.

Nick Capodice: [00:00:20] And that was a clip of Republican Congressman Adam Kinzinger from Illinois. On January 7th, 2021, he was calling for the vice president and the cabinet to invoke the 25th Amendment. So today we're going to try to explain the 25th as best as we can, why it was created, what it is and how it works.

Hannah McCarthy: [00:00:39] All right. So let's get to it. What does the 25th Amendment say?

Linda Monk: [00:00:43] The 25th Amendment? And I, I, I'm thinking that unlike in past times, we don't have to have me read all the words, the word like I've insisted sometimes.

Nick Capodice: [00:00:54] This is a dear friend to the show and a constitutional scholar who has in the past insisted things be read to the letter. Linda Monk, author of Bill of Rights A User's Guide.

Linda Monk: [00:01:03] But in general, the 25th Amendment is, well, long, relatively speaking, has four sections, the first of which says something that had been in practice but hadn't been in the Constitution, which is if something happens to the president, the vice president becomes president. Now, like a lot of other things in the 25th Amendment, there had already been precedents before the amendment comes in place, which is really kind of late.

Hannah McCarthy: [00:01:31] Late, like how late?

Nick Capodice: [00:01:33] The amendment wasn't ratified until 1967. The reason it was written in the first place was the Kennedy assassination in 1963. Lyndon Johnson became president after the death of JFK, but he himself had suffered a heart attack and the next people in the order of succession were quite elderly. So they wanted to lay out how to fill the office of the vice president during an administration.

Hannah McCarthy: [00:01:57] Ok, the first part Linda told us about that the vice [00:02:00] president becomes president if the president dies, resigns or is removed from office, what are the other three parts?

Nick Capodice: [00:02:08] All right. The second part says that if there is a vacancy in the vice president's office, the president appoints a new one with majority approval of both chambers of Congress. The third part says the veep can become president if the president themself submits a written statement that they're not going to be able to perform their job.

Hannah McCarthy: [00:02:26] Has this part ever been formally invoked?

Nick Capodice: [00:02:28] Yeah, sure. A handful of times. George H.W. Bush underwent surgery and he signed the request to make Dan Quayle president for a short time. And then his son, George W. Bush, did the same thing. He invoked the 25th twice for medical procedures, making Dick Cheney temporary president.

[00:02:44] "Because the president will be under the effects of anesthesia, he once again is elected to implement Section three of the 25th Amendment to the United States Constitution. Once enacted, the vice president will serve as acting..."

Nick Capodice: [00:02:57] But then we get to the very long, very tricky fourth part of the amendment,

Hannah McCarthy: [00:03:04] And this is the part about someone else declaring the president unfit to perform their office, right?

Nick Capodice: [00:03:10] Yeah.

Linda Monk: [00:03:10] If the president can't perform his or her job, who does it? And is that provided for in the Constitution? The 25th Amendment puts the constitutional language in. That said, it has not been invoked in terms of presidential disability. I want to focus on that part of it, because that's what we're talking about now. And we talk about disability as though it's physical disability. But I think what the current controversy about President Trump is raising is whether or not the president is capable of carrying out...now, maybe that's not a physical disability. Maybe that's other kinds of capabilities. And as we know now, The Washington Post has issued an editorial calling [00:04:00] for the 25th Amendment to be invoked. Both Republican and Democratic members of Congress have. And I'll just cut to the chase in terms of what I think is likely to happen there. The language is, is that a majority of the cabinet and the vice president have to be involved if it starts within the executive branch. If the president doesn't go along, it goes to Congress anyway and has to be a two thirds vote. That's a pretty big vote.

Hannah McCarthy: [00:04:39] So the vice president and a majority of the cabinet have to initiate it. And if the president disagrees and says, hey, no, I'm totally capable of being president, it then goes to Congress for that two thirds vote.

Nick Capodice: [00:04:53] Two thirds in both chambers.

Hannah McCarthy: [00:04:55] What about all those cabinet members who are talking about resigning in the wake of the attempted insurrection on January 6th who cast their vote?

Nick Capodice: [00:05:03] Ok, I don't want this to sound like a cop out. This is truly a murky constitutional area because the fourth section of the 25th Amendment has never been invoked before. The phrase in the amendment is, "a majority of the principal officers of the executive departments." So that is the cabinet. But they didn't specify who those principal officers are. A nineteen eighty five memo from the Justice Department interpreted it to mean the core cabinet secretaries, and one scholar I reached out to said this is all based on old Department of Justice memos in the 1960s. So we are flying in some heavy fog.

Linda Monk: [00:05:41] This is where I think Alexis de Tocqueville said it never ceases to amaze him how wonderful the Americans were at ignoring and avoiding the contradictions of their constitution. Oftentimes in our constitutional interpretation, it's what the political actors choose to do and [00:06:00] that that is part of the Constitution. It's not just supposed to be automatic words on paper. It's people exercising their judgment. And at a time like this, when there's so much strife and so much division, that's never more called for.

Nick Capodice: [00:06:18] That's the 25th Amendment, if you have any other questions about how our democracy works, just drop us a line at Civics101podcast.org.

---

Made possible in part by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting.

Ask Civics 101: Why Does the Vote Certification Take So Long?

Even in an election year when it took weeks to count and recount votes, there’s a significant gap when it comes to finally certifying that vote in Congress. Who decides the calendar of events - the first Tuesday after the first Monday, the first Monday after the second Wednesday - January 6th and January 20th? Why does the whole process take so long?

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Adia Samba-Quee:
Civics 101 is supported in part by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting.

Archival:
The ayes have it in this meeting at the 20 20 Electoral College is adjourned.

Hannah McCarthy:
Listener Justin wrote in to ask on behalf of friend Christina, why does it take so long to count and officially certify the electoral votes? Specifically, what is with all of the downtime between the date when the electors meet to vote and the date that those votes are counted by Congress? Is it a holdover from the days of slow travel and horse drawn carriage? Is it about our molasses bureaucracy? Your friend Justin came to the right place, Christina, because this is Civics 101 podcast about the basics of how our democracy works. I'm Hannah McCarthy.

Nick Capodice:
I'm Nick Capodice.

Hannah McCarthy:
We've actually danced around this question in a few ways from our episode on the lame duck period to the process of counting your ballot to how the Electoral College votes. But the why of it all is a great question.

Nick Capodice:
We've got the election on the Tuesday after the first Monday in November, and then the Electoral College meets this year on December 14th.

Hannah McCarthy:
Officially, it is the first Monday after the second Wednesday in December. And then Congress counts those votes on January 6th.

Nick Capodice:
And then the inauguration is another two weeks after that. It is a good long while from A to Z. So where do all these dates come from?

Hannah McCarthy:
Many of these dates were determined by Congress initially because the Constitution allows states to determine the, quote, time, place and manner of their elections. States held presidential elections on different days.

So first in 1845, Congress passes the presidential Election Day Act, which sets that Tuesday after the first Monday in November thing.

Nick Capodice:
Do you know why they chose a Tuesday in November?

Hannah McCarthy:
I don't.

Nick Capodice:
Well, so much of the voting population at the time were farmers. So spring, summer and early fall were out because those are planting and harvesting seasons. Winter was out because travel would have been too difficult. Weekends weren't good because of church. Wednesday through Friday were market days and November 1st had to be ruled out somehow because that's All Saints Day. Thus the Tuesday after the first Monday in November.

Hannah McCarthy:
And it stuck.

And then we see the date of the Electoral College vote show up in the Electoral Count Act of 1887. Congress wanted to minimize its role in election disputes, so they came up with several deadlines, giving states plenty of time to work out vote kinks. It also establishes that those electoral votes have to reach Congress by the fourth Wednesday in November.

Nick Capodice:
So why this long delay between the electoral vote day and the vote count in Congress?

Hannah McCarthy:
Well, the Constitution says that a new session of Congress starts on January 3rd, and it's the newly seated Congress that counts and certifies the final vote. So that's probably part of it. But it also is a partial holdover from the days before paved roads, telephones and Internet, tabulating the vote, gathering the electors all in one place, letting the president elect know they were elected, and then giving them time to assemble a cabinet. All of that took a lot of time when you couldn't just send an email. And we still need to allow time for a lot of it, especially in an election year like the one we just had.

Nick Capodice:
And also time for all those certificates of vote to be prepared and reach the Congress. This is a lot of bureaucratic red tape.

Hannah McCarthy:
And for the record, all of this used to take a lot longer. Congress initially set the president's inauguration and the beginning of a new congressional term to March 4th. And in fact, the weather was so bad following the first presidential election that George Washington wasn't sworn in until April.

Nick Capodice:
Have there been any attempts to make the whole timeline a little snappier?A little shorter?

Hannah McCarthy:
Actually. This year, Senator Marco Rubio made a play to extend the Electoral College timeline by giving states an even later deadline. And given how long it took to count and recount the 2020 election results, we're not likely to say goodbye to a long time line anytime soon.

Nick Capodice:
Well, that does it for this Civics 101. If you have a question about how and why the United States does it, the way we do it, even if you're asking for a friend, submit your question by clicking on the button at the top of out homepage, Civics101podcast.org.

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Ask Civics 101: What Role Does Congress Play in the Electoral College?

The Constitution requires Congress to meet and count electoral votes on January 6th. It’s the final step in a presidential election process that begins in early November when citizens cast ballots, continues as election officials count (and in some cases, recount) ballots through November, and progresses in December when the Electoral College meets to cast their votes. What happens on January 6th? Can the election results from November change?

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CPB:
Civics 101 is supported in part by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting.

Jacqui Fulton:
Election Day was ages ago. The Electoral College spoke. Each state certified their count with certificates of ascertainment. Finally,inauguration Day!

President Bush:
I, George Walker Bush, do solemnly swear that I will faithfully.

Jacqui Fulton:
Not so fast. I'm Jackie Fulton. Today on Civics 101, we're talking about the final, final, final step in our presidential election process, the certification of Electoral College votes by Congress.

Pelosi:
The House will be in order. Let me please clear the middle aisle.

Jacqui Fulton:
Normally certifying the Electoral College votes, just mundane housekeeping, Congress completing paperwork, boring. But every so often it's used as a chance for a last minute political theater like in 2016.

Representative:
I wish to ask, is there one United States senator who will join me in this letter?

biden:
There's no debate.

Jacqui Fulton:
Let's set the scene for this blockbuster event.

In a world where papers need to be pushed, will the United States Congress push those papers? The Senate packs up their lunch bills and takes a field trip to the House for a joint session of Congress.

CSPAN:
Vice President Cheney as president of the Senate, will chair this,

Jacqui Fulton:
Starring a vice president.

Cheney:
Pursuant to the Constitution and laws of the United States.

Jacqui Fulton:
Who silently reads poster sized certificates from 50 states and the District of Columbia, then hands the certificates over to a teller who tells everyone what they say.

Teller:
Mr. President, the certificate of the electoral vote of the state of Alabama seems to be regular in form an authentic and it appears therefrom that John McCain of the state of Arizona received nine votes for president and Sarah Palin of the state of Alaska received nine votes for vice president.

Jacqui Fulton:
But wait, someone has an objection.

Representative:
Mr. President, I object to the certificate from the state of Alabama on the grounds that the electoral votes were not under all of the known circumstances regularly given and that the electors were not lawfully certified.

Jacqui Fulton:
The objection has to be in writing.

biden:
Is the objection in writing.

Jacqui Fulton:
Signed by a member of the House and a member of the Senate,

biden:
Both member of the House of Representatives and a senator,

Jacqui Fulton:
If it is the House and Senate, retired to the respective chambers and for up to two Nail-biting hours discuss the objection.

Representative:
Given the confirmed and illegal activities engaged by the government of Russia designed to interfere with our election and the widespread violations of the Voting Rights Act.

Jacqui Fulton:
Then they vote.

Movie:
Who is with me? Let's go!

Jacqui Fulton:
It's all but certain to fail. This process has never succeeded in changing the outcome of its electoral college like ever.

biden:
Is it signed by Senator Obama,

Representative:
Signed by a member of the House, but not yet by a member of the Senate?

Cheney:
It is over.

Jacqui Fulton:
You'll be on the edge of your seat as the winner is declared.

Teller:
Barack Obama. The state of Illinois received 15 votes for president again, who received nine votes for president and again, four votes for president.

Jacqui Fulton:
Critics are raving.

biden:
The whole number of the electors appointed to vote for president of the United States is 538, of which a majority is 270.

Jacqui Fulton:
Will the United States Congress push those papers? Find out on January 6th every four years.

biden:
This announcement of the state of the vote by the president, the Senate shall be deemed a sufficient declaration and shall be entered together with a list of votes in the Journal of the Senate and the House of Representatives.

Movie:
Coming soon to theaters.

Jacqui Fulton:
If you've got questions, we've got answers. Just submit them at our website, civics101podcast.org.

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Ask Civics 101: How Does a Contested Convention Work?

Nominating conventions are about party morale, celebrating, and formally anointing the chosen candidate. There hasn’t been a contested convention — a convention when there is no clear winner on the ballot — since 1952. What happens when states have to vote more than once?

NHPR Fellow Tat Bellamy-Walker guest hosts for this episode on contested conventions with Shannon Bow O’Brien.

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Adia Samba-Quee:
Civics 101 is supported in part by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting.

Tat Bellamy-Walker:
For an ever so brief moment here at Civics 101, we had the pleasure and privilege of working with Tat Bellamy-Walker, our fellow here at the station. Now Tat, of course, went and got himself a full time job there. Gain is our great loss. But he did make an episode of Civics 101 before he left us. Without further ado, here's Tat Bellamy-Walker with contested conventions.

Gerald Ford:
Mr. Chairman, delegates and alternates to this Republican convention. I am honored by your nomination and I accept it.

Tat Bellamy-Walker:
This is Gerald Ford.

He was the Republican nominee for president in 1976.

Republicans have had some tough competition. Let me say this from the bottom of my heart. After the scrimmages of the past few months, it really feels good to have Ronald Reagan on the same side of the line.

Tat Bellamy-Walker:
He's giving a speech to a room of delegates during the 1976 Republican National Convention. The convention helps the party select a nominee for president. Ford just won the nomination after an intense battle with candidate Ronald Reagan. This all helped Ford move forward as the party's choice.

I'm Tat Bellamy-Walker, a fellow here at Civics 101. Today, we're answering this listener's question: would a contested convention be similar to a caucus? And by caucus, the listener means the process of a party coming together and discussing why they like their candidate.

But before we do that, let's start with what conventions are.

Shannon Bow O'Brien:
Conventions are to formally select the presidential candidate.

Tat Bellamy-Walker:
That's Shannon Bow O'Brien, a political science professor at the University of Texas at Austin. O'Brien describes this as a big cheerleading party. She says this is where delegates cast their votes with hopes of moving the candidate to the general election.

Shannon Bow O'Brien:
So it's this giant rally to get everybody excited about the candidate and the candidate gets to speak and put forward their agenda.

And often the party platform is often created or finalized at the convention to where the candidate will say, you know, if you elect me, this is the list of stuff we're going to do. That's often managed, too.

Tat Bellamy-Walker:
But then we have contested conventions. A contested convention happens when no candidate gets the majority of delegate votes during the state primaries. The one in 1976 was closed for the Republicans, but Ford pulled out enough delegates to not force a contested convention. And these days, because of the primary and caucus process, contested conventions are rare. We usually know who the candidate is before the convention even starts.

Shannon Bow O'Brien:
We haven't had one really in my lifetime.

Shannon Bow O'Brien:
The last time this happened was during the 1952 Democratic Convention in Chicago, when a reluctant Adlai Stevenson, then governor of Illinois, won the nomination with outgoing President Truman support. This was in effect like a caucus. Candidates wheeled and dealed and made concessions, and one by one they dropped out. It took three rounds of voting to beat out his opponents. And in this round, Stevenson received 617 votes. Stevenson's win appears to be a result of a deep racial divide. Truman believed nominating a candidate from a state with Jim Crow laws in force would turn black and northern white voters away from voting for the Democratic Party. Contested conventions might seem bad, but Shannon says that's a misconception.

Shannon Bow O'Brien:
A lot of times I think people think with a contested convention that they're kind of in disarray or they're crazy. A lot of it just means the states are really divided and the states have no one candidate could get a good job of selling themselves across the state.

Tat Bellamy-Walker:
So that's how a contested convention works. Do you have a question about our election process or anything else civics related, you could submit your question at Civics101podcast.org. That's Civics101podcast.org.

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Ask Civics 101: Holidays at the White House

Who had the first Christmas tree in the White House? Who had the first menorah? And when did we start the tradition of FLOTUS choosing a Christmas theme? All that and more in this short episode about celebrating the season at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue.

Click here to see photos of all the First Lady’s themes since 1961!

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Civics 101 is supported in part by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting,

Nick Capodice:
Hannah Holy Cats. It's been a crazy year. Today, I just want to take a little break.

Hannah McCarthy:
Take a holiday, you know.

Nick Capodice:
And that's what we're going to do today. You're listening to Civics 101. I'm jolly old, not St Nick Capodice.

Hannah McCarthy:
And I'm just regular old Hannah McCarthy.

Nick Capodice:
And today we're going to talk about the history of Christmas and Hanukkah at the White House. Can I can I put Sleigh Ride in here? Is sleigh ride in the Creative Commons? Are we going to get sued? The sounds a little like Sleigh Ride.

Hannah McCarthy:
Ok, let's kick it off with the Hanukkah. How long have we celebrated the eight days of light in the White House?

Nick Capodice:
Both recently and not so recently. Do you want to guess the first president with a Hanukkah story?

Hannah McCarthy:
I think I know this one.

Nick Capodice:
Who is it?

Hannah McCarthy:
I think it's Jimmy Carter.

Hannah McCarthy:
Is it?

Nick Capodice:
Well, kind of. It's George Washington.

Hannah McCarthy:
No way.

Nick Capodice:
In Valley Forge.

Nick Capodice:
It's a second hand account, but it is a credible one. There was a soldier who is sitting apart from the others. He was huddled over two small candles, and when Washington asked him about it, and he told him all about the holiday. And from that account, the general was, quote, warmed by the inspiration of those little flames and the knowledge that miracles are possible.

Hannah McCarthy:
That's really lovely.

Nick Capodice:
And then, yes, Jimmy Carter, we have, then we have 200 years of just Christmas at the White House. Jimmy Carter 1979 was the first president to acknowledge the holiday, giving remarks and lighting the menorah at Lafayette Park. Since then, every president has participated in a menorah lighting ceremony. But Bill Clinton was the first president to have one in the White House itself in 1993 where this happened.

Hannah McCarthy:
Oh, what is that?

Nick Capodice:
That is a young girl's hair catching on fire on the menorah. And the president snuffed it out with his bare hands.

Nick Capodice:
And I know we're focusing on Hanukkah and Christmas, but I just have to touch on one other significant Jewish holiday. Barack Obama is the first and so far only sitting president to host a Passover Seder in the White House.

Hannah McCarthy:
All right. Let's move on to Christmas. We said on many a trivia night that Franklin Pierce was the first president to have a Christmas tree.

Nick Capodice:
So wrong.

Hannah McCarthy:
Really,

Nick Capodice:
It's wrong. We were wrong. Hosting trivia was wrong. I read that, too. But it is disputed. By the way, the Wikipedia page on White House Christmas trees is hilariously edited. It says that Pierce might have had the first Christmas tree, but it can't be certified. And then it says you shouldn't be using Wikipedia as a source. But we do know that Benjamin Harrison had the first indoor tree in the late 1880s. So we'll go with that. And after that, some presidents had one, some presidents didn't. William McKinley was urged by a newspaper editorials to not get one because it was un-American. Trees inside the house are a German tradition. It was unpatriotic.

Hannah McCarthy:
That's right, O Tannenbaum. Let's get to the modern day tradition, which I believe was that by Jackie Kennedy, where the first lady is in charge of choosing a theme for the White House Christmas tree.

Nick Capodice:
Sure. So while Mamie Eisenhower was the first to traditionally put the tree in the Blue Room, as you said, Jackie Kennedy started the theme tradition. She chose a Nutcracker theme for that first one in 1961. And every first lady thereafter has chosen a theme. There are so many they're, so wonderful, we're going to put a link to all the themes on our website. Quick standouts are Lady Bird Johnson's Gingerbread Tree in 1968, Michelle Obama's Military Badges and Medals Tree in 2011. And my personal favorite, lest we forget, Pat Nixon 1973 with the theme of James Monroe. And as to the tree itself, there is a national competition held every year by the National Christmas Tree Association, the champion of which gets to put it in the Blue Room.

Hannah McCarthy:
Last thing. What about Christmas parties?

Nick Capodice:
John Adams had the first White House Christmas party in 1800 and they've just continued to happen ever since and were just about to jump into a new administration. So who knows what the next Christmas tree theme is going to be? Who knows how holidays are going to change at the White House. But after doing this research for this, I am just full of holiday anticipation. Happy holidays.

Hannah McCarthy:
Happy holidays.

Nick Capodice:
And if you have a question that's not about Christmas trees, you can submit it to our Web site, Civics101podcast.org.

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---

Transcript

[00:00:00] Civics 101 is supported in part by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting,

Nick Capodice: [00:00:03] Hannah Holy Cats. It's been a crazy year. Today, I just want to take a little break.

Hannah McCarthy: [00:00:11] Take a holiday, you know.

Nick Capodice: [00:00:12] And that's what we're going to do today. You're listening to Civics 101. I'm jolly old, not St Nick Capodice.

Hannah McCarthy: [00:00:18] And I'm just regular old Hannah McCarthy.

Nick Capodice: [00:00:21] And today we're going to talk about the history of Christmas and Hanukkah at the White House. Can I can I put Sleigh Ride in here? Is sleigh ride in the Creative Commons? Are we going to get sued? The sounds a little like Sleigh Ride.

Hannah McCarthy: [00:00:31] Ok, let's kick it off with the Hanukkah. How long have we celebrated the eight days of light in the White House?

Nick Capodice: [00:00:38] Both recently and not so recently. Do you want to guess the first president with a Hanukkah story?

Hannah McCarthy: [00:00:44] I think I know this one.

Nick Capodice: [00:00:45] Who is it?

Hannah McCarthy: [00:00:45] I think it's Jimmy Carter.

Hannah McCarthy: [00:00:49] Is it?

Nick Capodice: [00:00:50] Well, kind of. It's George Washington.

Hannah McCarthy: [00:00:52] No way.

Nick Capodice: [00:00:53] In Valley Forge.

Nick Capodice: [00:00:55] It's a second hand account, but it is a credible one. There was a soldier who is sitting apart from the others. He was huddled over two small candles, and when Washington asked him about it, and he told him all about the holiday. And from that account, the general was, quote, warmed by the inspiration of those little flames and the knowledge that miracles are possible.

Hannah McCarthy: [00:01:14] That's really lovely.

Nick Capodice: [00:01:16] And then, yes, Jimmy Carter, we have, then we have 200 years of just Christmas at the White House. Jimmy Carter 1979 was the first president to acknowledge the holiday, giving remarks and lighting the menorah at Lafayette Park. Since then, every president has participated in a menorah lighting ceremony. But Bill Clinton was the first president to have one in the White House itself in 1993 where this happened.

Hannah McCarthy: [00:01:40] Oh, what is that?

Nick Capodice: [00:01:43] That is a young girl's hair catching on fire on the menorah. And the president snuffed it out with his bare hands.

Nick Capodice: [00:01:52] And I know we're focusing on Hanukkah and Christmas, but I just have to touch on one other significant Jewish holiday. Barack Obama is the first and so far only sitting president to host a Passover Seder in the White House.

Hannah McCarthy: [00:02:04] All right. Let's move on to Christmas. We said on many a trivia night that Franklin Pierce was the first president to have a Christmas tree.

Nick Capodice: [00:02:13] So wrong.

Hannah McCarthy: [00:02:14] Really,

Nick Capodice: [00:02:15] It's wrong. We were wrong. Hosting trivia was wrong. I read that, too. But it is disputed. By the way, the Wikipedia page on White House Christmas trees is hilariously edited. It says that Pierce might have had the first Christmas tree, but it can't be certified. And then it says you shouldn't be using Wikipedia as a source. But we do know that Benjamin Harrison had the first indoor tree in the late 1880s. So we'll go with that. And after that, some presidents had one, some presidents didn't. William McKinley was urged by a newspaper editorials to not get one because it was un-American. Trees inside the house are a German tradition. It was unpatriotic.

Hannah McCarthy: [00:02:53] That's right, O Tannenbaum. Let's get to the modern day tradition, which I believe was that by Jackie Kennedy, where the first lady is in charge of choosing a theme for the White House Christmas tree.

Nick Capodice: [00:03:04] Sure. So while Mamie Eisenhower was the first to traditionally put the tree in the Blue Room, as you said, Jackie Kennedy started the theme tradition. She chose a Nutcracker theme for that first one in 1961. And every first lady thereafter has chosen a theme. There are so many they're, so wonderful, we're going to put a link to all the themes on our website. Quick standouts are Lady Bird Johnson's Gingerbread Tree in 1968, Michelle Obama's Military Badges and Medals Tree in 2011. And my personal favorite, lest we forget, Pat Nixon 1973 with the theme of James Monroe. And as to the tree itself, there is a national competition held every year by the National Christmas Tree Association, the champion of which gets to put it in the Blue Room.

Hannah McCarthy: [00:03:52] Last thing. What about Christmas parties?

Nick Capodice: [00:03:55] John Adams had the first White House Christmas party in 1800 and they've just continued to happen ever since and were just about to jump into a new administration. So who knows what the next Christmas tree theme is going to be? Who knows how holidays are going to change at the White House. But after doing this research for this, I am just full of holiday anticipation. Happy holidays.

Hannah McCarthy: [00:04:15] Happy holidays.

Nick Capodice: [00:04:16] And if you have a question that's not about Christmas trees, you can submit it to our Web site, Civics101podcast.org.

---

Made possible in part by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting.

Ask Civics 101: What Is Voter Fraud?

Claims of voter fraud are widespread but is voter fraud itself? What is voter fraud, how often does it happen, and what do claims of voter fraud reveal about voter perception? Professor Justin Levitt talks us through this murky subject.

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VoterFraud_PRX.mp3 was automatically transcribed by Sonix with the latest audio-to-text algorithms. This transcript may contain errors. Sonix is the best audio automated transcription service in 2020. Our automated transcription algorithms works with many of the popular audio file formats.

Adia Samba-Quee:
Civics 101 is supported in part by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting.

Hannah McCarthy:
We heard it a lot this year, voter fraud, widespread, rampant election, ruining voter fraud. Yet at the same time, election officials say they can't find the evidence of significant fraud. So what is the truth about voter fraud? This is civics 101. I'm Hannah McCarthy.

Nick Capodice:
I'm Nick Capodice.

Hannah McCarthy:
And today we're finding out what fraud actually is, how often it happens and what voter fraud allegations tell us about elections.

Justin Levitt:
Voter fraud does usually happen.

Hannah McCarthy:
This is Justin Levitt, law professor at Loyola Law School in Los Angeles. He says, yes, there are various types of voter fraud and they do happen very rarely.

Justin Levitt:
The important thing to know is that real voter fraud is based on breaking the law in some way.

Nick Capodice:
So this would be like trying to vote more than once.

Hannah McCarthy:
Yes. And impersonating an eligible voter, voting in more than one state or attempting to.

Laws vary from state to state, but in many it is a felony to, for example, vote more than once. Sometimes this is nefarious or sometimes it's a relative voting for their deceased loved one to carry out their last wishes. Either way, though, it is illegal but very, very rare.

Justin Levitt:
The way to distinguish these real incidents from hot takes that turn out to be fiction is to find real facts that show real wrongdoing against real law. And unfortunately, all too often what we hear are claims of voter fraud that are based in I don't like people who don't think like I do voting.

Nick Capodice:
In other words, unsubstantiated voter fraud claims could just be frustration that someone else's candidate won.

Hannah McCarthy:
Or confusion.

Justin Levitt:
That seems fishy to me, but I don't really understand how the rules of the elections work. And it's real easy to jump really quickly in a conspiratorial mindset from this. Seems strange, but I don't understand too. That must be fraud.

Hannah McCarthy:
Justin gave this example of someone suspecting that it's voter fraud for someone to vote in a state in which they do not live, when actually that's just a misunderstanding of legal absentee voting.

Justin Levitt:
Mike Pence votes in Indiana but doesn't live there. Many, many, many, many, many members of the military live in a place that is not their voting residence and vote in a place where they are not currently living. That's not fraud.

Hannah McCarthy:
So actual fraud, while it exists, is exceedingly rare. Still, legislators pass laws like voter ID laws that tighten election security in order to prevent widespread fraud from happening. But those laws are really controversial.

Justin Levitt:
Every state has some means to make sure that you are who you say you are when you go to. But the question isn't, should we have a way to prove that you are who you say you are? The question is, what kind of things should we permit in order to make sure that the election system is reasonably secure, while also making sure that we are not unreasonably locking out eligible voters?

Hannah McCarthy:
Justin says it's important to recognize that insistences of voter fraud with no evidence of voter fraud gives you insight into how voters are feeling. It has to do with intense emotion rather than clear fact.

Justin Levitt:
They're expressions of frustration. They're expressions of anguish. They are communications about disengagement with the system that we have there often not really about whether the law was broken in a particular way in a particular jurisdiction. But if we can recognize that a large part of that conversation is expressing some other deeper disengagement that may help point the way toward embracing all of the voters who participate in the process.

Hannah McCarthy:
We have far from solved the problem of voter fraud, real or imagined.

But here's to hoping we've shed a little light on a murky idea. If you have any questions about the way things are working or not in this country, we will try to find the answers, even if they are dissatisfying. Just click the button at the top of our home page at Civics101podcast.org.

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Ask Civics 101: How Is a Seat Filled When a Member of Congress Takes Another Job?

This January, Senator Kamala Harris will resign her seat to become vice president. How will that seat be filled? How does the process differ among states, and also between both chambers of Congress?

Our guest today is Matthew Tokeshi, Assistant Professor of political science at Williams College.

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Civics 101 is supported in part by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting

And I'm curious if anybody has already started to pitch themselves as a replacement to You.

Well, you may be the only one that hasn't unless you just did.

Nick Capodice:
You're listening to Civics 101 I'm Nick Capodice.

Hannah McCarthy:
I'm Hannah McCarthy.

Nick Capodice:
And today we're answering this question. Our listener Judy wrote, How is a U.S. senator seat filled after they're elected president or vice president?

Matt Tokeshi:
I don't know if this listener question was inspired by Kamala Harris, but Kamala Harris is a perfect example. Right?

Nick Capodice:
This is Matt Tokeshi. He's professor of political science at Williams College.

Matt Tokeshi:
Ok, so for Senate vacancies, each state has different rules. So the 17th Amendment of the Constitution empowers state legislatures to grant the governor the power to name a temporary replacement. So in 45 of the U.S. states, the legislature has granted that the governor that appointment power. And in five states, the legislature does not grant the governor a temporary appointment power.

Nick Capodice:
And I have to add that it's not terribly common. So far in U.S. history, 15 senators, including Kamala Harris, have resigned to become vice president. But only three U.S. senators, Barack Obama, Warren G Harding and John F. Kennedy were elected president while they were holding that Senate seat.

Hannah McCarthy:
Matt said that 45 states have the governor pick a replacement. But what about the other five states?

Nick Capodice:
So North Dakota, Oklahoma, Oregon, Rhode Island and Wisconsin don't allow gubernatorial selected Senate replacements. In those states, Senators have to be elected by the people in a special election.

Matt Tokeshi:
So Harris is a U.S. senator from California. And California is one of the 45 states that empowers its governor to appoint, in this case, Senator Harris's replacement.

Hannah McCarthy:
When Matt says these are a temporary replacement, how long does that last?

Nick Capodice:
It lasts until a special election is held. As to when that happens, it varies greatly from state to state. Most states hold it at the next statewide election, 13 states require a special election to be held in a certain time frame after that governor's appointment.

Hannah McCarthy:
Ok, that's the Senate.

Matt Tokeshi:
OK, so let me talk about the House. Article one of the Constitution says that House vacancies are filled by special elections. So unlike the Senate, there are no temporary appointment powers granted to anyone. There is a special election that's held, you know, soon after that vacancy.

Hannah McCarthy:
I'm curious about other positions besides the president and the vice president. Is the process the same if a senator or representative resigns to become a cabinet member?

Matt Tokeshi:
The rules for replacing senators and representatives joining the cabinet are the same for, you know, whether they leave to become the president or vice president or if they die or become sick or retire. This is to fill vacancies for any reason. The rules are all the same. So, for example, President elect Biden has named one U.S. in this case representative, to be a part of his cabinet so far. And that's Ohio Representative Marcia Fudge, who is going to be nominated to be the secretary of Housing and Urban Development. Ohio Democrats are already lining up to fill that Marcia Fudge seat.

Hannah McCarthy:
So when a president picks members of their cabinet, I imagine they have to consider not only the right person for the job, but also that they'll be removing that person from their current position of power.

Matt Tokeshi:
That is definitely a consideration. And that's exactly what we're seeing with what President elect Biden. There's lots of factors that go into it. So President elect Biden so far has mostly selected more, I guess, technocratic type people rather than ambitious politicians who are seeking further office. So he's opted more for people that he's personally familiar with and who are, I guess, less politically ambitious, which means he hasn't named anyone from the Senate. But if you name a senator, you don't know for sure who the replacement is going to be and where. You have a very close fight for party control in the Senate, every single one of those seats is precious. You want to be very, very careful. And in fact, the the most careful way to approach this is just to not name somebody currently in the in the Senate.

That's how we fill vacated seats in Congress here today on Civics 101. Don't forget to submit your questions at our website, civics101podcast.org.

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---

Transcript

[00:00:00] Civics 101 is supported in part by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting

[00:00:03] And I'm curious if anybody has already started to pitch themselves as a replacement to You.

[00:00:08] Well, you may be the only one that hasn't unless you just did.

Nick Capodice: [00:00:13] You're listening to Civics 101 I'm Nick Capodice.

Hannah McCarthy: [00:00:15] I'm Hannah McCarthy.

Nick Capodice: [00:00:16] And today we're answering this question. Our listener Judy wrote, How is a U.S. senator seat filled after they're elected president or vice president?

Matt Tokeshi: [00:00:25] I don't know if this listener question was inspired by Kamala Harris, but Kamala Harris is a perfect example. Right?

Nick Capodice: [00:00:31] This is Matt Tokeshi. He's professor of political science at Williams College.

Matt Tokeshi: [00:00:35] Ok, so for Senate vacancies, each state has different rules. So the 17th Amendment of the Constitution empowers state legislatures to grant the governor the power to name a temporary replacement. So in 45 of the U.S. states, the legislature has granted that the governor that appointment power. And in five states, the legislature does not grant the governor a temporary appointment power.

Nick Capodice: [00:01:00] And I have to add that it's not terribly common. So far in U.S. history, 15 senators, including Kamala Harris, have resigned to become vice president. But only three U.S. senators, Barack Obama, Warren G Harding and John F. Kennedy were elected president while they were holding that Senate seat.

Hannah McCarthy: [00:01:18] Matt said that 45 states have the governor pick a replacement. But what about the other five states?

Nick Capodice: [00:01:24] So North Dakota, Oklahoma, Oregon, Rhode Island and Wisconsin don't allow gubernatorial selected Senate replacements. In those states, Senators have to be elected by the people in a special election.

Matt Tokeshi: [00:01:34] So Harris is a U.S. senator from California. And California is one of the 45 states that empowers its governor to appoint, in this case, Senator Harris's replacement.

Hannah McCarthy: [00:01:45] When Matt says these are a temporary replacement, how long does that last?

Nick Capodice: [00:01:50] It lasts until a special election is held. As to when that happens, it varies greatly from state to state. Most states hold it at the next statewide election, 13 states require a special election to be held in a certain time frame after that governor's appointment.

Hannah McCarthy: [00:02:06] Ok, that's the Senate.

Matt Tokeshi: [00:02:07] OK, so let me talk about the House. Article one of the Constitution says that House vacancies are filled by special elections. So unlike the Senate, there are no temporary appointment powers granted to anyone. There is a special election that's held, you know, soon after that vacancy.

Hannah McCarthy: [00:02:25] I'm curious about other positions besides the president and the vice president. Is the process the same if a senator or representative resigns to become a cabinet member?

Matt Tokeshi: [00:02:35] The rules for replacing senators and representatives joining the cabinet are the same for, you know, whether they leave to become the president or vice president or if they die or become sick or retire. This is to fill vacancies for any reason. The rules are all the same. So, for example, President elect Biden has named one U.S. in this case representative, to be a part of his cabinet so far. And that's Ohio Representative Marcia Fudge, who is going to be nominated to be the secretary of Housing and Urban Development. Ohio Democrats are already lining up to fill that Marcia Fudge seat.

Hannah McCarthy: [00:03:11] So when a president picks members of their cabinet, I imagine they have to consider not only the right person for the job, but also that they'll be removing that person from their current position of power.

Matt Tokeshi: [00:03:23] That is definitely a consideration. And that's exactly what we're seeing with what President elect Biden. There's lots of factors that go into it. So President elect Biden so far has mostly selected more, I guess, technocratic type people rather than ambitious politicians who are seeking further office. So he's opted more for people that he's personally familiar with and who are, I guess, less politically ambitious, which means he hasn't named anyone from the Senate. But if you name a senator, you don't know for sure who the replacement is going to be and where. You have a very close fight for party control in the Senate, every single one of those seats is precious. You want to be very, very careful. And in fact, the the most careful way to approach this is just to not name somebody currently in the in the Senate.

[00:04:12] That's how we fill vacated seats in Congress here today on Civics 101. Don't forget to submit your questions at our website, civics101podcast.org.

---

Made possible in part by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting.

Ask Civics 101: How Does the Electoral College Vote?

The popular vote has been cast and the electors have been chosen but the Electoral College still needs to meet and cast their ballots. What does that actually look like? Where and when does it happen? Jessie Kratz, historian at the National Archives, gives us the play-by-play.

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Adia Samba-Quee:
Civics 101 is supported in part by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting.

Hannah McCarthy:
Even though it is our job to understand it, even I sometimes need a reminder of how the Electoral College works. What do these people actually do? How is the Electoral College vote cast?

Let's take one state, Montana.

Jessie Kratz:
There's literally three people that are meeting on December 14th to cast their vote for president and vice president.

Hannah McCarthy:
This is Jesse Kratz, historian of the National Archives.

Jessie Kratz:
So some states require that the winner of the popular vote gets their electoral votes and then some states is determined by political party. So the political parties will tell their candidate, their slate, their electors, you need a vote for Biden or you need a vote for.

Nick Capodice:
So if you're on the Republican Party slate and you're an elector from the state in which the popular vote went to the Republican Party's nominee, then you get to vote.

Hannah McCarthy:
And this vote happens on the second Monday after the first Tuesday in December, which in 2020 is December 14th. The electors gather in legislative buildings in their respective states to cast paper ballots. This can be the secretary of state's office, the state capital, the governor's office, wherever state law tells them to meet.

Nick Capodice:
And if you are that Republican elector, then you're supposed to vote for the Republican nominee.

Jessie Kratz:
Some states have rules that the electors have to vote that way and other states don't.

And they can vote however they want.

Hannah McCarthy:
Which I always found a little baffling because these electors are chosen by the party. So you'd think they would vote for the party candidate. But we do encounter what are called faithless electors, people who vote for a candidate other than the candidate who won the popular vote in their state.

Jessie Kratz:
Sort of rare because the electors are really chosen from the parties faithful. So it's really unlikely that they would switch their vote to the opposite party. But this happened in 2016. An example uses a lecture from Hawaii. It was supposed to vote for Hillary Clinton, but instead voted for Bernie Sanders. And this was totally legitimate because some states have laws that the electors must vote for the popular vote winner. But Hawaii isn't one of them.

Nick Capodice:
And it is worth mentioning the Supreme Court did just issue a decision saying that it is constitutional for states to penalize faithless electors or to just nullify their votes.

Hannah McCarthy:
But if that vote checks out according to state law, here is what happens.

Jessie Kratz:
They vote for president and vice president and they vote on two separate ballots. And these are what we call certificates of vote. And this is the document that shows who the electors chose for president and vice president. And the electors have to sign, seal and certify these electoral votes. And then they send them to various officials, including the archivist of the United States.

I think we get two copies of these.

Hannah McCarthy:
Election code in each state dictates how this actually plays out.

Like in Massachusetts, the electors nominate and vote on who will be the temporary president, vice president and secretary of the Massachusetts Electoral College itself.

2004 Massachusetts Electoral meeting:
I rise to place a nomination for vice president of the Electoral College, the name of the Honorable Mushtaq Merza of Cambridge.

Hannah McCarthy:
It all varies state to state. You can actually watch these proceedings play out usually on C-SPAN. And my favorite aspect is the clothing, tuxedoes, sequined gowns, even tricorn hats. Electors really glam up for this moment.

Nick Capodice:
And unlike Election Day for general citizens, the college vote is not a secret ballot. You rise and declare who you'll be voting for, which also allows for a rare opportunity to lobby for what you believe in, even if what you believe in is abolishing the Electoral College.

2004 Massachusetts Electoral meeting:
Before I vote

I would like to say we need an electoral system that reflects that respects the sanctity of the vote. Every vote should be counted and count every vote.

And I dedicate myself to election reform.

Hannah McCarthy:
That's the end of the road for an elector's job, but it is not the end of the road for the vote itself. Those certificates have to have to make their way to the Senate where the final steps cement our president. And we'll cover that on Civics 101. And don't forget, if you have a question about the way this democracy works, we will find the answer.

Just ask us by clicking on the button at the top of our homepage at civics101podcast.org.

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---

Made possible in part by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting.

Ask Civics 101: Who Are Electors?

Today on Ask Civics 101 we look into the electors- the 538 people who vote for our president on December 14th. Who can be an elector? How are they chosen? And what is it like to really vote for the president and vice president?

This episode stars Jessie Kratz, historian at the National Archives, and Marseille Allen, a certified elector from Flint, Michigan.

You can check out the many styles of certificates of ascertainment here!

Here are the three slates submitted in NH.

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Transcript

[00:00:00] Civics 101 is supported in part by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting.

[00:00:04] Good afternoon and welcome. On this most August occasion, electors and guests, please find your seats.

Nick Capodice: [00:00:10] You're listening to Civics 101. I'm Nick Capodice.

Hannah McCarthy: [00:00:13] I'm Hannah McCarthy.

Nick Capodice: [00:00:14] And today we're talking about electors, the 538 individuals who vote on the first Monday after the second Wednesday in December. This year that's December 14th. Because...

Jessie Kratz: [00:00:23] When you're casting your ballot for the presidential candidate, you're really selecting it for the slate of electors.

Nick Capodice: [00:00:30] This is Jesse Kratz, historian of the National Archives, the place responsible for administering the Electoral College.

Hannah McCarthy: [00:00:36] We've said it before and we'll say it again. When you vote for a president in November, you're not voting for the president. You're voting for a slate of electors.

Nick Capodice: [00:00:45] Every party before the election chooses that slate. The slate is a list of people who will cast their vote in mid-December, usually for the candidate who won the popular vote of that state.

Hannah McCarthy: [00:00:55] Ok, so let's use a small state as an example. New Hampshire has four electoral votes. [00:01:00] So before the election, each party chose four different people who would vote on December 14th.

Nick Capodice: [00:01:06] Yes, the office of the secretary of state in New Hampshire posted 12 names to their Web site for Democratic electors, four Republican and four libertarian. President elect Joe Biden won in New Hampshire. So those four Democrats will go to the state House on the 14th to cast their vote.

Hannah McCarthy: [00:01:22] Who gets to be an elector?

Nick Capodice: [00:01:23] Here's Jesse again.

Jessie Kratz: [00:01:24] So the Constitution contains very few provisions relating to the qualifications of electors. Basically, no senator or representative or person holding an office of trust or profit. That's basically no federal office holders, no political appointees, no federal judges. That's pretty much it. And this process varies from state to state. But in the most general terms, the parties nominate a slate of potential electors at their state party convention or their party's central committee chooses them. And they often choose somebody who, you know, is a party loyalist, somebody that [00:02:00] they want to recognize their service and dedication to the party. That might be a state elected official state party leader. It could be Bill Clinton if he was a private citizen at that time.

Hannah McCarthy: [00:02:09] Oh, that's right. I forgot. Bill Clinton in 2016 was an elector in New York and cast his vote for Hillary.

Nick Capodice: [00:02:14] Yeah, he did. In some states, you actually get to see the names of those electors on the ballot. So the bubble you fill in will say Donald Trump or Joe Biden. But below that, two different columns of names of who would actually cast that vote in December.

Hannah McCarthy: [00:02:28] Did the electors know they're going to be picked beforehand?

Nick Capodice: [00:02:31] Not always.

Marseille Allen: [00:02:32] I received a text message from a particular someone saying, hey, you want to be an elector? I said, absolutely, that would be great.

Hannah McCarthy: [00:02:41] Who's this?

Marseille Allen: [00:02:41] My name is Marseille Allen. I'm a lead agent with the Michigan Department of Corrections and a human rights activist. I was selected to be an at large elector for the state of Michigan 2020, and apparently I was selected right then and there at the convention.

Nick Capodice: [00:02:57] Michigan certified their results on November 23 [00:03:00] for Joe Biden. So Marseille will go to the State House on December 14th.

Hannah McCarthy: [00:03:05] Is this Marseille's first time being an elector?

Marseille Allen: [00:03:07] This is my first time. I mean, I am not an expert in history, but knowing the history of the Electoral College, I know that I am a part of a process that is extremely controversial but has determined presidents since the establishment of our country. And so it's an honor to be part of it. It's almost bittersweet. You know, the three fifths compromise was actually because of the Electoral College. People need to understand that my ancestors were not even considered a full human. So as an African-American woman who's voting for a woman of African and Indian descent to be vice president, of course, and Vice President elect Joe Biden, I wouldn't be surprised if I became emotional because of it.

Marseille Allen: [00:03:52] It is something that I haven't really come to terms with, but it's full circle from not being seen [00:04:00] as a full human being to actually determining who the president of this country is.

Nick Capodice: [00:04:06] That's electors for today. If you want to know who your own state's electors are, will have links to the National Archives with all that information on our website, Civics 101. Podcast Nhpr.org.

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Made possible in part by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting.

Ask Civics 101: What Does the National Archives Have To Do With the Electoral College?

The United States election system is notoriously decentralized but when it comes to finally certifying results, the federal government takes charge. So how do 51 far flung pieces come together to be certified in the Senate on January 6th? Leave it to the National Archives and Records Administration to make it happen. NARA historian Jessie Kratz tells us how it works.

P.S. You can check out the many versions of states’ certificates of ascertainment here!

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Made possible in part by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting.

Ask Civics 101: What Does the Solicitor General Do?

The Solicitor General represents the United States in cases that make it to the Supreme Court and they’re also highly influential on the court itself. So what does it mean to be the lawyer for the U.S. and a near-honorary member of the Supreme Court? How does the SG maintain the line between Executive Branch and Judiciary? Professor Amy Steigerwalt lets us in on it.

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Made possible in part by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting.

Ask Civics 101: What Do Politicians Do After They Leave Office?

On January 3rd, members of the new Congress start a new session. But what about those who lost their seats? Where do they go? What do they do? Dan Cassino, Professor of Political Science at Farleigh Dickinson University, lays out their options.

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Transcript

[00:00:00] Civics 101 is supported in part by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting.

[00:00:06] I do respect the will of the voters here in the state of Colorado, but I also thought about my dad, you may remember some of you that he lost an election and he said the voters have spoken. The blankety blanks...

Nick Capodice: [00:00:20] Once the balloons are swept up, tears have been shed and everybody goes home, every losing candidate has to ask themselves this question, what do I do now?

Hannah McCarthy: [00:00:30] You're making it sound a little dramatic.

Nick Capodice: [00:00:33] I know I can't help it.

Hannah McCarthy: [00:00:34] But it is a good question. What do people in the House and the Senate do when they lose an election?

Dan Cassino: [00:00:40] So members of Congress, when they lose, they actually start making real money.

Nick Capodice: [00:00:45] That's Dan Casino, professor of political science at Fairleigh Dickinson University. And I'm Nick Capodice.

Hannah McCarthy: [00:00:50] I'm Hannah McCarthy.

Nick Capodice: [00:00:51] And throw away the hankie, because today on Civics 101, we are talking about the three most common occupations of politicians once they leave Congress.

Hannah McCarthy: [00:00:59] When Dan says [00:01:00] real money, what is he talking about?

Dan Cassino: [00:01:02] The real money is going to come as a consultant. That is, you can turn around and take all the expertise you've built up over the years, all the influence, all the credibility you have with your colleagues and use that as a lobbyist, influence other existing members of Congress to get them to do what a group wants them to do. Now, I know this sounds corrupt. People are going to go, oh, boy, they're just cashing in. This is wrong. This is morally dubious and maybe it is. But we have to remember what the purpose of lobbying is. Lobbyists are there as information brokers. That is, they know more about a subject than members of Congress know about that subject.

Nick Capodice: [00:01:37] After the 2014 midterm elections, over a quarter of departing members of Congress stayed in D.C. and became lobbyists, which they were legally allowed to do after a one year cooling off period. But there is a reason that former congresspeople make for good lobbyists.

Dan Cassino: [00:01:53] They've got instant credibility. They also know the interpersonal relationships. They know how all of these committees work. And that is worth a lot [00:02:00] of money.

Hannah McCarthy: [00:02:00] How much money?

Dan Cassino: [00:02:01] Honestly, the sky is the limit. If you are particularly shameless and willing to just go and work for a lobbyist and go out and shill for that lobbyist, you can be making tens of millions of dollars.

Nick Capodice: [00:02:13] If you're a massive corporation like, let's say Lockheed Martin, spending a few million dollars on a former congressperson to lobby for legislation that favors you can make you billions more in the long run. But your financial success as a lobbyist depends on what committees you were on when you were in Congress. That committee work often gives you expertise on a particular topic. So it makes sense that you would use that knowledge to lobby members of Congress on that issue. And that is why some committees are more desirable to be on, like defense or banking or ways and means, because it offers a potentially very lucrative future.

Hannah McCarthy: [00:02:51] All right. So that's lobbying. What else can an outgoing member of Congress do? I know lots of people go on book tours [00:03:00] or speaking tours.

Nick Capodice: [00:03:00] Yeah, they sure do.

Dan Cassino: [00:03:02] Book tours!

[00:03:03] Ladies and gentlemen, please join me in welcoming Dr. Ron Paul.

Ron Paul: [00:03:10] The more you understand about why the problem, the better off you'll be.

Dan Cassino: [00:03:15] Lots of members of Congress go write books they're going to tour out there. You give speeches, former members of Congress can make a lot of money on the lecture circuit. Sure. If you're a former president, you can make a lot more money than that. But even if one member of Congress has more respect, you can go around on the lecture circuit and make a lot of money.

Nick Capodice: [00:03:28] Influential former politicians can charge thousands, hundreds of thousands per speech. But there is one more thing you can do when your time is done in D.C..

Dan Cassino: [00:03:38] Finally, we have to remember most members of Congress got to Congress in the first place because either they were rich people or were friends with a lot of rich people because you got to fund your campaign some way. So we do have plenty of members of Congress who are very wealthy people. They're often very often older people. And when they're done, they just retire. They do what any super wealthy 68 year old person would do, then go home and swim in the pool and maybe think about writing their memoirs and spend [00:04:00] time with the grandkids.

Nick Capodice: [00:04:02] All right. Well, that's a few of the options for those who lost in November. If you've got questions, just submit them at our website, civics101podcast.org.

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Ask Civics 101: What's Going On in the Georgia Senate Races?

All eyes are on Georgia as it nears a runoff election for two Senate seats — seats that have the potential to split the Senate right down the middle between Democrats and Republicans. How did this happen? And what could a 50-50 Senate split mean for Congress? Professor Casey Dominguez of the University of San Diego breaks it down.

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Ask Civics 101: What Happens to Campaign Funds after the Election Is Over?

It doesn’t always happen (and probably shouldn’t) but occasionally there are funds leftover at the end of the long campaign road. Of course, that money was supposed to help that candidate win — and nothing else. There are some restrictions on what happens to campaign funds once all is said and done. Deborah D’Souza lays down the facts about those funds.

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Transcript

NOTE: This transcript was generated using an automated transcription service, and may contain typographical errors.

Deborah D'Souza: [00:00:01] As we came towards the end of the election, I got really curious about what's going to happen to all of this money.

Hannah McCarthy: [00:00:06] This is Deborah D'Souza.

Deborah D'Souza: [00:00:08] Which is when I sort of pitched to my editor and was like, we talk to people about their money and investing. I think people would also be curious to know what happens to their donations.

Hannah McCarthy: [00:00:19] Deborah works for Investopedia. She writes about finance and she said she didn't expect her post on leftover campaign funds to be so popular. I think she was right. People want to know where all their money ends up, including us. This is a Civics 101. I'm Hannah McCarthy.

Nick Capodice: [00:00:35] I'm Nick Capodice.

Hannah McCarthy: [00:00:35] And today we're following the money to find out where campaign funds go after everything is said and done in an election.

Deborah D'Souza: [00:00:42] So when we talk about leftover funds, we're talking about when, you know, off the rent have been paid, all of the salaries have been paid. You know, the campaign have been winding down. So it's not that common, I would say, to have leftover funds. It's not that good either. You've probably not spent it correctly. [00:01:00]

Nick Capodice: [00:01:00] So leftover campaign funds are not necessarily a good thing?

Hannah McCarthy: [00:01:04] People gave you that money to use. They want you to get elected. And campaigning is really expensive. Every dollar that you have leftover is money that you did not spend on campaign ads and T-shirts and fliers and rallies. But let's say after all is said and done and you've paid off all of your debts, you still have money left over.

Deborah D'Souza: [00:01:26] So the main rule to remember is no personal use so that no mortgage, groceries, gas, no country club membership, college tuition.

Hannah McCarthy: [00:01:38] The Federal Election Commission says you can spend that leftover cash on only a handful of things.

Deborah D'Souza: [00:01:43] One of them is donated to charity. The other thing you can do is you can transfer it to a future campaign if you're planning to run again, or you can transfer the whole amount to a national political party or local political party. At state political party committee, [00:02:00] you can give a small amount to another candidate. I think it's two thousand dollars to another candidate. So those are the main ways the FEC allows you to use it. You can also do nothing.

Nick Capodice: [00:02:12] Do nothing like just let the money sit there?

Deborah D'Souza: [00:02:15] You'll find reports of people leaving thousands or sometimes millions in the bank collecting interest for years. And when they're being asked by reporters why from this money going to charity or why you being put to use by the political party affiliated.

[00:02:32] But they'll tell you that they haven't planned whether they're going to run again or they haven't really decided what they're going to do with the money.

Hannah McCarthy: [00:02:39] And the FEC says if you drop out of the race, you have to redistribute re-designate or refund funds within 60 days.

[00:02:46] Campaign committees rarely go the refund route, though.

Deborah D'Souza: [00:02:50] Which brings us to like a big gaping loophole in the FEC rules is that they say no personal use, but you can transfer [00:03:00] this money to something called the leadership PAC. And the rules for leadership PACs are completely different to the personal use rule doesn't apply there. You can use it for travel, you can use it for dinner, concert tickets, all in the name of fundraising. And politicians have used their leadership PACs quite lavishly.

Nick Capodice: [00:03:22] Doesn't the FEC have a number of vacancies right now? I read there aren't enough people on the commission to even hold a meeting. So even if these leadership PACs were misusing funds, would anyone do anything about it?

Deborah D'Souza: [00:03:35] The FEC has basically been shut down since July. They haven't had the quorum to have meetings or enforcement rulings since July. And the process they have is audits or complaints that are submitted to them. And I just don't know how that will work if the agency that's supposed to enforce the rules have basically been shut down [00:04:00] for months and months while all of the fundraising has gone on.

Nick Capodice: [00:04:03] Well, isn't that just a friendly little reminder that democracy only works when people enforce its principles?

Hannah McCarthy: [00:04:08] That does it for the fate of campaign funds. If you have a question about the way this democracy works or doesn't ask us, just click the button at the top of our home page at Civics101podcast.org.

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Made possible in part by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting.

Ask Civics 101: How Do We Add States? What Is the Difference Between a State and a Commonwealth?

Today’s listener question is a twofer: “What is the difference between a state and a commonwealth and which will Puerto Rico become?” We discuss the differences, the reason Puerto Rico might become a state, and how adding states has benefited political parties.

Our guest for today is Robinson Woodward-Burns, a professor of political science at Howard University.

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Transcript

Nick Capodice: [00:00:00] You're listening to Civics 101 I'm Nick Capodice.

Hannah McCarthy: [00:00:02] I'm Hannah McCarthy.

Nick Capodice: [00:00:03] Today's question comes from our listener, Jennifer, who wrote "What is the difference between a state and a commonwealth? Will Puerto [00:00:10] Rico become a state or a commonwealth?" So we will explain those differences and the history and process of adding states to our union, stars to our canton.

Hannah McCarthy: [00:00:19] I grew up in a commonwealth. [00:00:20] So what is the difference between that and a state?

Nick Capodice: [00:00:23] Well, the short answer is none whatsoever.

Hannah McCarthy: [00:00:27] None at all.

Nick Capodice: [00:00:27] No. At least if we're talking about the four states [00:00:30] that refer to themselves as Commonwealth: Massachusetts, Kentucky, Virginia and Pennsylvania, there is no legal distinction between them in a state. And anyway, it's purely political [00:00:40] philosophy. When those states wrote their constitutions in the 17 and 18 hundreds, they used the term Commonwealth to more align themselves [00:00:50] with the thoughts of Thomas Hobbes and John Locke. It was a common term back then representing the ideals of a democratic state.

Hannah McCarthy: [00:00:56] It's actually quite lovely. But what about Puerto Rico? [00:01:00]

Nick Capodice: [00:01:00] Oh, well, here we go. Puerto Rico is one of five U.S. territories. They also refer to themselves as a commonwealth. But again, they are a territory, meaning [00:01:10] they currently have no representation. Over three million Americans live there, but they don't send anyone to Congress. They don't have any electoral votes. They don't vote for president. They don't pay [00:01:20] federal income taxes, but they do pay payroll taxes.

Nick Capodice: [00:01:23] However, this November, the people of Puerto Rico voted that they wished to become the fiftyfirst [00:01:30] state.

[00:01:31] Ms. Colon, for five minutes. Thank you, Mr. Speaker. On November the 3rd, Puerto Rican voters made a clear choice to become a permanent part of this [00:01:40] union, to become a state in equal footing, an equal responsibility with the 50 states.

Nick Capodice: [00:01:45] So to learn about the process of adding Puerto Rico as a state, I spoke to Robinson Woodward-Burns. He's [00:01:50] a professor of political science at Howard University. He first told me why the Democratic Party is interested in adding it as a state.

Robinson Woodward-Burns: [00:01:58] One thing that we see is that the Senate [00:02:00] is malapportioned. It over-represents rural areas. And this is is pretty famous. If you look, for example, at Wyoming, this is a state with two escalators and two senators it [00:02:10] over represents its constituents, particularly relative to, say, California, which is a much more populous state. So it's a famous sort of problem. [00:02:20] It's built into the Constitution and it would take a constitutional amendment to revise that. And those small rural states are never going to allow an amendment like that to be [00:02:30] ratified. So if the Senate is unfixable, the answer might be to just bring in more states.

Hannah McCarthy: [00:02:35] We've shifted gears here from naming conventions like Commonwealth versus [00:02:40] state to actually creating a state. Which sounds like it would benefit one party over another.

Robinson Woodward-Burns: [00:02:49] People will say that [00:02:50] again, this might be a partisan move, but it's always been partisan. When Republicans in Congress in 1889 were facing pretty long [00:03:00] shot electoral odds in the 1890 election, they simply created six new states and they got 12 senators out of it. The Dakota territory became two different [00:03:10] states overnight, and this has been done often in 1860 for Nevada, with 20000 people, became a state in advance of the 1864 election. [00:03:20]

Hannah McCarthy: [00:03:20] I did not know that.

Nick Capodice: [00:03:21] Me neither. And maybe it's because it's been so long since any states have been admitted.

Hannah McCarthy: [00:03:26] I know Washington, D.C. is being considered for statehood as well, and [00:03:30] both they and Puerto Rico lean Democrat.So if they're both admitted, that would add four senators from the Democratic Party?

Nick Capodice: [00:03:39] Maybe [00:03:40].

Robinson Woodward-Burns: [00:03:40] Congress under Article four has broad authority over the territories, including Puerto Rico, to admit those states. Again, the two sort of arguments against D.C. and Puerto [00:03:50] Rico statehood, that it's partisan, that sort of misses the point and that, you know, their constitutional objections to that. I don't think those really stand up historically. I think the real barrier [00:04:00] to D.C. and Puerto Rico statehood are whether Democrats are actually willing to play hardball come January 3rd, should they take the Senate. And that remains to be seen.

Nick Capodice: [00:04:10] And [00:04:10] flag makers would indeed have their work cut out. That's Commonwealths and adding states on Civics 101. You can submit your questions at our Web site civics101podcast@nhpr.org. [00:04:20]

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Ask Civics 101: What Is an Executive Order?

Sometimes it’s easier for a president to circumvent our complex legislative process and just do something.

Today we answer a listener question about executive orders: what they are, how they differ from laws passed in Congress, and how they’re checked by other branches and future administrations.

This episode features Professor Casey Dominguez from San Diego University.

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Made possible in part by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting.

Ask Civics 101: How Do Judicial Appointments and Elections Work?

Article III Justices- most justices at the federal level- are appointed by the President, confirmed by the Senate, and serve for as long as they please with very few exceptions. This is done, in part, to ensure that they are independent of the political process. At the state level, however, things work differently. Judicial elections may be held to ensure accountability to the people. What do these differences mean for state and federal judiciaries?

Amy Steigerwalt of Georgia State University shows us the way.

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Transcript

NOTE: This transcript was generated using an automated transcription service, and may contain typographical errors.

Archival: [00:00:01] After careful reflection, I am proud to nominate for associate justice of the Supreme Court, Judge Ruth Bader Ginsburg of the United States Court of Appeals for [00:00:10] the District of Columbia.

[00:00:11] Also, a contest of voters in Brooklyn will be weighing in on a very important one. It's for Surrogate's Court. The June 9th election serves as the general election for candidates for West [00:00:20] Virginia Supreme Court of Appeals and inspiring woman who I believe will make a great justice, Judge Sonia Sotomayor of New York.

Hannah McCarthy: [00:00:35] You're [00:00:30] listening to Civics 101, I'm Hannah McCarthy.

Nick Capodice: [00:00:38] I'm Nick Capodice.

Hannah McCarthy: [00:00:39] Today, we are looking [00:00:40] into the very different ways that a justice gets on the bench at the state and federal level in the United States appointment and election.

Amy Steigerwalt: [00:00:48] Article III judges [00:00:50] follow the same process that other top officials do in the United States government.

[00:00:56] They are nominated by the president, by and with the advice [00:01:00] and consent of the Senate.

Hannah McCarthy: [00:01:01] This is Amy Steigerwalt, professor of political science at Georgia State University. She's been walking us through the judiciary lately.

Nick Capodice: [00:01:08] And when Amy says Article [00:01:10] III judges, we're talking about Article III of the Constitution. That's the article that says there shall be a Supreme Court. Congress can also make inferior courts and justices hold [00:01:20] office during good behavior, which is indefinitely in Congress has indeed established inferior federal courts.

Hannah McCarthy: [00:01:26] In the U.S. there are courts of appeals district courts [00:01:30] and there's a court of international trade. All told, there are currently in twenty, twenty eight hundred and seventy Article III judgeships. When someone [00:01:40] dies or retires, the president gets to appoint someone to fill that seat.

Amy Steigerwalt: [00:01:44] And the Senate confirms and the reason why they were given that they use this appointment process as well [00:01:50] as in this part of super important life tenure, that they serve for good behavior, cannot be removed from office involuntarily [00:02:00] except through either impeachment or death.

Nick Capodice: [00:02:03] I know the idea here is to have judicial independence, to have justices who won't be swayed by politics over the course of their career because [00:02:10] they don't have to appeal to the political landscape, like they don't have to prove themselves to parties or a voter. But you mentioned elections. So are there some judges in the country who have [00:02:20] to campaign?

Hannah McCarthy: [00:02:21] Yeah, starting in the 60s, 70s and 80s, states began to consider judicial elections in large part because they felt like there was simply no check on the justices [00:02:30] that had been appointed, that they were too disconnected from the people.

[00:02:34] There was no accountability.

[00:02:36] There was no ability to say you are doing a bad job [00:02:40] and therefore we want to get you out of office.

[00:02:43] And plenty of states have some form of judicial appointment for state courts, whether it's the governor appointing or a commission [00:02:50] or some combination of both, but plenty. Others hold traditional elections.

[00:02:55] There are states that just have competitive [00:03:00] judicial elections for their judges.

[00:03:03] Sometimes those are nonpartisan elections and sometimes they're partisan.

[00:03:08] There's also a special kind of election [00:03:10] that crops up in states that have an appointment process. This is called a retention election. A justice is appointed and then after some specified period of time, there's [00:03:20] a vote and that incumbent judge either gets to stay or is booted off.

Nick Capodice: [00:03:24] So with many states having elections where you vote for judges, have there been any moves to change how [00:03:30] things are done? And the Article three level?

Amy Steigerwalt: [00:03:32] The issue is that almost everyone agrees that it would take a constitutional amendment. And that, of course, is a really high bar. [00:03:40] And so the sort of leading advocates of changes or less about judicial elections and more about [00:03:50] either terms, sometimes it's about age limits or removal. But I would say probably the most prominent one that I've seen is actually less about switching to an election [00:04:00] system and more about putting in term limits. The people who would make the final determination on that would be, of course, the justices whose potential [00:04:10] seats would be in jeopardy.

Hannah McCarthy: [00:04:12] So will our federal justices ever be willing to make themselves less powerful if we ever get that far? You're at least guaranteed a Civics [00:04:20] 101 episode on it.

[00:04:21] If you have questions about government and politics, ask us by clicking the button at the top of our homepage at civics101podcast.org.

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