ALLcrimesfood&drugstaxestelecomcommercehealthconservationtransportationagricultureveteransbrowse all titles »
0

3 U.S.C. § 16Same; seats for officers and Members of two Houses in joint session

submitted 78 years ago by ch. 644 to r/title-3-THE-PRESIDENT · 228 words · no verdicts yet

in plain englishAI-generated · not legal advice

This section sets exact seating for the joint session that counts electoral votes. The session cannot end until the count and result are finished. Each House can only pause briefly, and just once, if a dispute comes up.

This section is a single, undivided provision. This section lays out exactly where everyone sits during the joint session where Congress counts electoral votes. The President of the Senate sits in the Speaker's chair. The Speaker of the House sits immediately to the President of the Senate's left. Senators sit in the body of the Hall, to the right of whoever is presiding. Representatives sit in the rest of the Hall, wherever isn't reserved for Senators. The tellers, the Secretary of the Senate, and the Clerk of the House sit at the Clerk's desk. The two Houses' other officers sit in front of the Clerk's desk and on either side of the Speaker's platform. The joint session cannot end until the electoral votes are fully counted and the result is announced. Normally there's no recess at all. The only exception is if a question comes up about counting votes, or some other issue arises under this subchapter — in that case, either House, acting on its own, can call a recess of that House. But that recess can't run past the next calendar day (not counting Sunday), and it has to end by 10 a.m. Also, if the vote count and result announcement still aren't finished by the fifth calendar day after the joint session first began, neither House can take any further recess at all.
the actual law source: uscode.house.gov ↗public domain

At such joint session of the two Houses seats shall be provided as follows: For the President of the Senate, the Speaker’s chair; for the Speaker, immediately upon his left; the Senators, in the body of the Hall upon the right of the presiding officer; for the Representatives, in the body of the Hall not provided for the Senators; for the tellers, Secretary of the Senate, and Clerk of the House of Representatives, at the Clerk’s desk; for the other officers of the two Houses, in front of the Clerk’s desk and upon each side of the Speaker’s platform. Such joint session shall not be dissolved until the count of electoral votes shall be completed and the result declared; and no recess shall be taken unless a question shall have arisen in regard to counting any such votes, or otherwise under this subchapter, in which case it shall be competent for either House, acting separately, in the manner hereinbefore provided, to direct a recess of such House not beyond the next calendar day, Sunday excepted, at the hour of 10 o’clock in the forenoon. But if the counting of the electoral votes and the declaration of the result shall not have been completed before the fifth calendar day next after such first session of the two Houses, no further or other recess shall be taken by either House.

Source credit: (June 25, 1948, ch. 644, 62 Stat. 676; Pub. L. 117–328, div. P, title I, § 110(c)(1), Dec. 29, 2022, 136 Stat. 5240.)

history & why it existsrecord from the source credit
  • 1948Enacted · Act of June 25, 1948, ch. 644 · 62 Stat. 676
  • 2022Amended · Pub. L. 117-328 · 136 Stat. 5240

A history note hasn’t been published yet. The record shows enactment by ch. 644 on 1948-06-25.

all 0 arguments · sorted by: best

0/280

no arguments yet — make the first case