One constitutional concern with remote voting and how Congress can get past it

Published April 22, 2020 9:30am ET



Today’s Washington Examiner editorial is absolutely right in calling for Congress to get back to work. To it, I merely add one note about why it should do so by reconvening in the nation’s capital, rather than by trying to invent some sort of remote system for members of Congress to cast votes from their home districts.

The potential problem with remote voting stems from one sentence of the Constitution. Article 1, Section 5, paragraph four says that “neither House” may adjourn “to any other place than that in which the two Houses shall be sitting.” This would seem to indicate that both chambers must “sit” and hold actual business meetings in the same location.

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