Last week’s road to electing a new Speaker of the House felt like a 15 Round Boxing Match, and the surreal nature of much of the week’s events left some on social media pondering some bizarre alternatives. Among these is that a cat could preside instead of a House member (or even, indeed, a human being).
Some say it started with a tweet posted on January 4, 2023, viewed more than 1.3 million times, which claims that a cat could become speaker of the House of Representatives if members wanted to vote for it. So, does this theory have any, uh, claws?
According to Newsweek, in a very technical sense, such a move is possible, at least on paper.
Under the wording of the Constitution, the only restriction members of the House have is that they must choose the speaker. Article 1, Section 2 of the Constitution states that members must be at least 25 and have been a U.S. citizen for seven years before they make the Chamber, which would preclude cats and other pets from becoming congressional representatives.
However, wording about the speaker is less specific, stating: “The House of Representatives shall choose their Speaker and other Officers; and shall have the sole Power of Impeachment.” It does not set out terms of qualification, whether it be age, education or political history, nor other demands of the role. According to Dr. David Andersen, an associate professor of U.S. politics at Durham University in Durham, England, this means that, in theory, Congress could set a cat among the pigeons.
“Cats, dogs, former presidents, and even inanimate objects can probably serve as speaker,” Andersen said. “The only Constitutional restriction is that the members of the House have to choose who the speaker is. That leaves an enormous amount of latitude up to the members of the House. If they wanted to, they could decentralize power to the Committees and Members and select a purely symbolic speaker. That could be a person or a mascot. I think a cat would do nicely at this point.”
Andersen noted that the constitutional wording was “quite vague” and avoided using any “humanizing pronouns” that might settle the matter entirely. “The members of the House can presumably choose anyone or anything to serve as speaker without regard to qualifications or species,” he said. “I think a cat could serve and would pass constitutional review. The House has the discretion to choose whatever or whomever they want.”
Of course, while a cat sitting in the speaker’s chair would be entertaining and adorable, perhaps even instilling some calm in Washington, it would still need 218 votes from members (or fewer, if some are absent or vote “present”). Additionally, just like all House members, the elected speaker would need to be sworn in (in order to then swear in the other representatives).
According to Laws.com, “The election process is based on a simple majority vote. After a candidate is elected, the person is to be sworn in by the Dean of the House, which the longest-serving member of the House.” And as the government publishing office states, with regard to all House members (though not about the speaker explicitly), the Constitution requires that every senator and representative swear or affirm to support the Constitution of the United States.
“Until a Member-elect has subscribed to the oath, he does not enjoy all the rights and prerogatives of a Member of Congress. Deschler Ch 2 Sec. 2.1. Members who have not taken the oath are not entitled to vote or to introduce bills. Manual Sec. 300; 8 Cannon Sec. 3122. However, unsworn Members have participated at the beginning of a session in organizational business, such as the election of the Speaker.”
That task would be beyond the capabilities of even the most intelligent of cats, so while nothing prevents members from voting for a feline, he or she would not be able to officially take the position.
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