US Congress Covid Proxy Vote Was Valid, Appeals Court Finds (1)

Congress lawfully approved a $1.7 trillion spending package during the Covid-19 pandemic despite lacking a physical quorum, a federal appeals court ruled Friday.

By a 2-1 vote, the US Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit said the Constitution doesn’t require House members to be physically present to establish a quorum, so Congress acted within its authority when it established a Covid-era rule allowing proxy votes.

“The House’s proxy-voting rule did not violate anyone’s fundamental rights,” Judge James Graves Jr., an appointee of former President Barack Obama, wrote in the majority opinion. “There is a reasonable relationship between the rule ...