Acting President Nancy Pelosi? It just might happen!

 Donald Trump has stated that he will not concede if he loses in November. Nancy Pelosi has urged Biden not to concede under any circumstances if early returns show him losing. It is likely that early returns will favor Trump because they mainly will be from in-person polling stations in GOP favored precincts. For the most part, Democrats will vote by mail this year because of the COVID-19 pandemic. And most of the vote by mail returns will not be in by election night and will be counted over a three or four day period after the November 3rd election.

Election returns will turn more and more blue as the vote by mail ballots are counted. The Trump campaign will begin to file lawsuits to try to stop the counting of vote by mail ballots on the grounds that ballots received after Election Day cannot be counted. The Biden campaign will counter sue, stating that ballots that are postmarked on or before Election Day can be counted no matter when they arrive at the Elections Office. The litigation will have begun and tensions on both sides of the campaign will be higher than ever.

                    The Court Battles Ensue

Most likely, the election outcome will not be known on November 3rd, nor will it be known a week from then, or even a month later. The outcome of the election will be tied up in court with both candidates claiming that they won and neither candidate conceding. More than likely, Trump will claim that he is the victor based upon early returns from in-person voting stations and Biden will be claiming that the outcome is yet unknown because of millions of uncounted mail-in ballots. And, as mentioned previously, Trump will attempt to block the counting of those mail-in ballots.

Additionally, both Trump and Biden will be suing the Secretaries of State of the contested states, trying to force them to count or not count ballots. Those lawsuits will be fought in the state courts of the respective states and then those rulings will be appealed by the losing sides. The lawsuits will ascend the judicial ladders until they finally end up in federal court, then the federal appeals courts and finally the Supreme Court, the decision of which will be final.

All of this could take months. During this very uncertain time, Biden will not be able to prepare to take over with a transition team and Trump will not be able to prepare for a second term.

                    Trump leaves office

With the court fights still underway, the election outcome will not be known by Inauguration Day on January 20, 2021. Under the Constitution, the President has to leave office on January 20th if the outcome of the election is unknown and his term has ended. He cannot and will not stay in office pending the outcome of the election.

Conversely, Joe Biden will not be able to take office either if the outcome of the election is unknown. And if neither candidate has conceded to the other one, neither candidate can take office. In 1960, John F. Kennedy won against Nixon by only 100,000 votes. The election results could have been challenged by Nixon. But Nixon, not wanting to tie up the courts in one appeal after another, conceded to Kennedy and Kennedy took office on January 20, 1961.

That most likely is not going to take place this time. Trump already has predicted that the election results will be challenged by either side and that the outcome will be tied up in court for months. And he has stated emphatically that he will not concede. And although Biden himself has not stated that he will not concede, he is being strongly encouraged not to do so by Nancy Pelosi and others.

                     Nancy Pelosi becomes “acting” President

If the election outcome is tied up in the courts and neither Trump nor Biden have conceded to each other, then the only Constitutional remedy is to swear in Nancy Pelosi as President pending the official outcome of the election. As Speaker of the House, Pelosi is second in succession to the Presidency, after the Vice-President. Pence would not be able to take office as President because his election also would be in question and so it would fall upon Pelosi to succeed to the Presidency, at least temporarily. 

Under the Constitution, there is no designation for an “acting” President; but Pelosi only will be President pending the outcome of the election. Pelosi will take the same oath of office as the President because there is no oath for an acting President.

Pelosi’s “Presidency” could be a matter of hours, days, weeks or months. It all depends on the courts, the appeals, the lower courts and the higher courts and finally the U.S. Supreme Court. Each lawsuit will be handled on a case by case basis. And each case will have its own path through the appellate process. 

Conceivably, Pelosi could be President for months. During that time, she will have the full power and privileges of the Presidency. And she will be the Commander-in-Chief. She will carry the nuclear football and will have the access codes.  

As President,  Pelosi will be managing the COVID-19 crisis, directing the Center for Disease Control, allocating funds to go to the states, and administering a relief package for businesses and American citizens who are unemployed as a result of the COVID-19 crisis.

                    Ruling by fiat

Because Pelosi will not know how long she is going to be “acting” President, she will not have the luxury of going through the long, cumbersome Congressional process to get her proposals enacted. She will have no choice but to rule by Executive order for the time being in hopes of providing some semblance of stability to the government as it deals with COVID-19, massive unemployment, a depleted economy, international relations, wildfire relief and a whole host of other problems facing the country.

Pelosi will rule by fiat, or executive orders, while fully aware that her executive orders can be overturned by whomever is determined to have won the election by the courts. But that will not be the issue at the time anyway. Pelosi's objective will be to run the government as efficiently and effectively as possible for the time that she is in office and to provide for the needs of the states, cities, large and small businesses, and the American People.

                    An empty White House

During this time, the White House will be empty. Trump will have been moved out and/or been "escorted out" on January 20th because his term will have ended. Biden will not have moved in because he will not have been determined to be the winner nor sworn in as President. And Pelosi, who will have been sworn in as President, will not move into the White House because she will not know how long she is going to be serving as “acting” President.

And so for the first time since Harry Truman moved out of the White House while it was being remodeled, nobody will be living in the White House. Reporters will camp out across the street from Pelosi’s private home, instead of the White House, much like they do in England across from 10 Downing Street, the official residence of the British Prime Minister. Makeshift press conferences will occur on Pelosi’s doorstep or front yard or in a temporary large, white tent somewhere near Pelosi’s home.

                    An interesting time

The acting Presidency of Nancy Pelosi, if it does in fact become reality, will be an interesting time. It will be the government’s attempt to bring stability and order to a very uncertain, chaotic time in our history. No matter who ultimately is declared the winner of the 2020 election by the courts, America will have prevailed and the Constitution will have guided us through yet another quagmire. Long live the Constitution!