“Until the House selects a speaker, other members cannot be sworn in, and no other business can be conducted.”
@davemark is this rule in the constitution or is it tradition?
@herid An excellent question. I don’t know.
@davemark your original post was in quotes. what were you quoting?
@herid It was a New York Times article. Can't find it easily (usually I post a link, my bad for not doing that).
Might have been this one, but not finding the quote:
https://www.nytimes.com/2023/01/04/us/politics/house-speaker-representatives.html
Could also have been a WSJ article.
@davemark thanks. that NYT article does clarify things. The constitution doesn't say anything about the Spekaer except that there should be one (I checked) but there is an 1789 law that says that the speaker has to be elected first before the speaker swears in all the other members and any other business can be conducted.
https://uscode.house.gov/view.xhtml?req=granuleid:USC-prelim-title2-section25&num=0&edition=prelim
@herid I find the whole situation fascinating. And a little terrifying!