Mitch McConnell, an Emperor Without Clothes?
Reversing one senate tradition is all it would take to end his grip on the US legislative process, but will Harris do it?
The US constitution does not mention political parties, and for obvious reasons. Political parties come and go. The Federalists, the Democratic-Republicans, the Whigs, or the Know-Nothings have had their time and since faded into oblivion. Parties are elements of a system larger than the sum of its parts; they are temporary by nature.
As such, the roles of Senate Majority and Minority Leaders have no constitutional recognition either. They exist as a matter of fact, and their power (particularly those of the Majority Leader) as a matter of tradition. Herein lies the catch, and an opportunity for the Biden administration.
Article I, Section 3, Clause 4 of the US Constitution states that:
The Vice President of the United States shall be President of the Senate, but shall have no Vote, unless they be equally divided.
Wikipedia informs us that most of the time, the Vice-President being busy with other state duties,
The Senate chooses a president pro tempore to preside in the vice president’s absence. Modern presidents pro tempore, too, rarely…
