Kevin McCarthy’s 'performative' planned Constitution stunt torn apart by law expert

On Friday, legal expert Chris Geidner took to Twitter to tear apart House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) for one of the first plans he has announced once the Republican majority is officially sworn into the chamber.

"On the very first day of the new Republican-led Congress, we will read every single word of the Constitution aloud from the floor of the House — something that hasn't been done in years," McCarthy had pledged. However, Geidner took issue with several aspects of this idea.

"1. It’s the House you’re leading, not Congress. 2. A public reading like this is performative," wrote Geidner. Furthermore, he continued, "3. Who will read the Three-Fifths Clause? 4. Who will read the 14th Amendment?"

Republicans gained fewer than ten seats in the House, after many experts had predicted a blowout wave election with potentially dozens of pickups for the GOP. Democrats maintained control of the Senate, carrying 50 seats with a 51st on the line in Georgia next month in a runoff election between Democratic Sen. Rev. Raphael Warnock and Trump-backed former football star Herschel Walker.

McCarthy has been the presumptive choice for House Speaker. However, his easy ascendancy to the gavel is by no means assured, with several hardline Republicans in the Freedom Caucus coming out in refusal to back him, throwing his path to 218 votes into confusion.

Among the things McCarthy has promised his caucus, in addition to the Constitution reading, is restoring censured lawmakers like Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA) to her committee assignments, and to authorize partisan investigations supported by the far right, like whether January 6 rioters were treated correctly in D.C. jail.