Trump as Speaker of the House?

[mystery-ak]

Trump as Speaker of the House?
A determined speaker of the House theoretically could do much more to weaken the permanent bureaucracy.
By John S. Baker
April 10, 2022

The prospect of Donald Trump becoming speaker of the House, should Republicans regain the majority after the November election, is tantalizing. The House is the most populist part of the federal government. As speaker, Trump could do much to force some downsizing of the deep state, depending on the size of Republican majorities in both Houses. Meanwhile, the deep state would lack the same ability to undermine him, as it did while he was president.

At a Trump rally on March 26th in Georgia, Congressman Matt Gaetz (R-Fla.) again raised the possibility of Trump as speaker. Assuming that Republicans will gain the majority in the House, Gaetz said that he would make the motion for Trump’s election as speaker of the House.

In 2015, after John Boehner (R-Ohio) stepped down as speaker, the possibility of a non-member of the House assuming the post was bandied about. The House had never elected a non-member as speaker and, it was generally agreed, the founders would not have approved of such a development. Nevertheless, at the time a number of serious people concluded that a non-member could become speaker.

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https://amgreatness.com/2022/04/10/trump-as-speaker-of-the-house/

[Kamaji]

The main obstacle to Trump becoming speaker of the House is the belief that he would first have to be elected a member of the House. Although I originally thought, as others still do, that it would be constitutionally permissible for the House to elect anyone a majority wanted, the language of the Constitution is to the contrary. The issue is a textual one, but textualism—as Justice Antonin Scalia’s writings on interpretation remind us—includes context, notably nearby text.

The last paragraph of Article I, Section 2 begins: “The House of Representatives shall choose their Speaker and officers.” From this piece of text, some have concluded that the Constitution does not prevent a majority of the House from choosing a non-member.

That conclusion, however, ignores the text of the first sentence of Article 1, Section 2, which states “The House of Representatives shall be composed of members chosen every second year by the people of the several states.” To be part of the House, then, one must be a “member.” Members must be chosen by the people. The text suggests there is no room for a non-member to become part of the House, even as speaker.