Alabama Sen. Tommy Tuberville has an idea about how to make next week’s inauguration as safe as possible: Just move it to a few weeks later!
“We probably could have had a swearing-in and inauguration later after we got this virus behind us a little bit,” Tuberville suggested in an interview with a local TV station. “Again, we’re talking about Washington, DC.”
Er, so, this is awkward, senator, but the whole Inauguration Day thing isn’t, um, movable?
See, there’s this document called the Constitution — it’s kind of a big deal — which makes very, very clear that the transfer of presidential power has to happen on January 20 at noon. It’s all right there in section I of the 20th Amendment; “The terms of the President and the Vice President shall end at noon on the 20th day of January.” It was ratified by the states in 1933. Which was 88 years ago.
This isn’t the first time that Tuberville, who beat Democratic Sen. Doug Jones in November, has shown a, um, lack of familiarity with the Constitution.
Submission by Adamas