Technically, no, the request itself very real and has teeth, but for it to just die and produce attention is what she seems to want and is betting on. It’s all a gamble on her part, but the dice are real.
A Motion to Vacate is a legal request for Congress to hold a vote on having the current Speaker vacate the office. -IF- it ever gets to a vote, a simple majority is all that is needed, under the new rules for this Congress, for a Speaker to be ousted.
But she’s personally betting it will never get to a vote, not be supported, and will be killed by others long before that. From Wikipedia (bolding is mine):
Under House Rule IX, a resolution to declare the office of Speaker of the United States House of Representatives vacant is considered privileged: once introduced on the floor by a member, the resolution must be put to a floor vote within two legislative days. In 2019, at the beginning of the 116th Congress, the rules were altered to prevent motions from qualifying as matters of privilege unless “offered on behalf of a party conference or caucus.” The 2019 rule change remained in place until 2023, when the 118th Congress reversed it. A member can decide whether to introduce the motion to vacate on the floor or through the regular channels: the motion is only privileged in the first case.
In the history of the House of Representatives, there have been only four instances of a motion to vacate the chair being filed: one in March 1910 against Joe Cannon, which ended up being voted down, one in July 2015 against John Boehner, which was never put up to a vote, one in October 2023 against Kevin McCarthy (which, unlike its predecessors, was successful) and one against Mike Johnson. All four were filed by Republicans against a Republican speaker.
Read further in Wikipedia if you want the details, but it’s the Speaker of the House’s main job to allow specific pieces of legislation to come to the floor to be voted on, and he can gatekeep whatever he wants. So essentially she’s counting on Mike Johnson refusing to allow a motion for his own firing to come to the floor for a vote, or for the House Rules Committee to shoot it down first. This is probably a good bet. Also, if it ever gets to a vote, any other member can respond to the motion by entering a countering Motion to Table (postpone) the vote itself, indefinitely if they like.
Thus, success or failure simply depends on how many votes are needed at any given step, and she is betting, probably rightly so, that there just isn’t enough hatred for Mike Johnson yet for this to get anywhere near a vote.
But she’s doing the legislative equivalent of waving a loaded gun. Don’t think it’s just perfunctory, because this is the same shit that got McCarthy ousted in under a week without breaking a sweat. Hence, the threat. It frankly reminds me of the same irresponsible, self-certain political brinksmanship that called for a “non-binding” referendum in the UK as to their continued membership in the EU that turned out to be very binding indeed.
Technically, no, the request itself very real and has teeth, but for it to just die and produce attention is what she seems to want and is betting on. It’s all a gamble on her part, but the dice are real.
A Motion to Vacate is a legal request for Congress to hold a vote on having the current Speaker vacate the office. -IF- it ever gets to a vote, a simple majority is all that is needed, under the new rules for this Congress, for a Speaker to be ousted.
But she’s personally betting it will never get to a vote, not be supported, and will be killed by others long before that. From Wikipedia (bolding is mine):
Read further in Wikipedia if you want the details, but it’s the Speaker of the House’s main job to allow specific pieces of legislation to come to the floor to be voted on, and he can gatekeep whatever he wants. So essentially she’s counting on Mike Johnson refusing to allow a motion for his own firing to come to the floor for a vote, or for the House Rules Committee to shoot it down first. This is probably a good bet. Also, if it ever gets to a vote, any other member can respond to the motion by entering a countering Motion to Table (postpone) the vote itself, indefinitely if they like.
Thus, success or failure simply depends on how many votes are needed at any given step, and she is betting, probably rightly so, that there just isn’t enough hatred for Mike Johnson yet for this to get anywhere near a vote.
But she’s doing the legislative equivalent of waving a loaded gun. Don’t think it’s just perfunctory, because this is the same shit that got McCarthy ousted in under a week without breaking a sweat. Hence, the threat. It frankly reminds me of the same irresponsible, self-certain political brinksmanship that called for a “non-binding” referendum in the UK as to their continued membership in the EU that turned out to be very binding indeed.
Bitch is playing with fire.