A trio of Republican lawmakers fined by former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) for their refusal to wear masks begged the Supreme Court on Tuesday to hear their claims after losing in a lower court.
Representatives Thomas Massie (R-Ky.), Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.) and Ralph Norman (R-SC) argued that the $500 fine imposed on them violates the 27th Amendment — which prohibits compensation changes for members of Congress from taking effect until after the next election cycle.
“The attorneys in our lawsuit against Speaker Pelosi just filed a Petition for Certiorari in the Supreme Court,” wrote Massie at X. “Pelosi imposed a pay cut on me, [Greene]and [Norman] because of our refusal to wear masks in 2021. The question is: is the 27th amdt. to the Constitution can even be enforced?”
“When we filed this lawsuit against Pelosi’s mask mandate, I said we would take it to the Supreme Court if necessary, and that’s what ended up happening,” he added in a separate post.
Massie and Greene threw out a warning letter sent to them by Pelosi about their lack of wearing masks in 2021. AP
The US District Court for DC dismissed the trio’s lawsuit against Pelosi, former House Sergeant at Arms William Walker and House Chief Administrative Officer Catherine Szpindor last year.
The court ruled that the former speaker of the House and his officials are immune from legal action under the Constitution’s Speech and Debate Clause, which protects lawmakers in the course of their duties from legal action.
The dismissal was upheld by the DC Circuit Court of Appeals earlier this year.
“If we accept the logic used by the lower courts, the 27th amendment to the Constitution is unenforceable and therefore dead,” Massie said in a statement provided to The Post.
“We hope the Supreme Court will hear our plea, because the lower courts’ effective nullification of the 27th amendment creates serious Constitutional issues that must be resolved,” added the Kentucky Republican.
Lawmakers argued that the fines violated the 27th Amendment. Getty Images
A pandemic-era rule on masks implemented by Pelosi requires House members to cover their faces in the chamber except when speaking during debate. Failure to comply will result in a fine of $500 for the first offense and $2,500 for the second offense.
In 2021, Massie tweeted an image of a warning letter he received from Pelosi about the mask rule being thrown into his office trash.
“Just filed [Pelosi’s] a letter warning me to comply with his mask rules,” he wrote at the time.
Similarly, Taylor Greene posted a video in which he posted his letter through a shredder.
“You can’t discriminate against people just because they won’t wear a mask,” he said in the video, “and today, I refused to wear a mask on the floor of the House and I received a warning from Speaker Pelosi that led to a fine if I continued to refuse to wear a mask. Well, here’s what I think about your warning, Speaker Pelosi.”
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Source: thtrangdai.edu.vn/en/
