Jeffries would win in that scenario. The GOP would threaten violence against themselves and cause Jeffries to win. Assuming they were dumb enough to allow a vote to happen.
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Rutherford told The Messenger his idea is to have every member of the GOP conference submit two choices for speaker. After tallying up the totals, the person with the most support should be considered the consensus candidate whose nomination Republicans would take to the floor, where they would unanimously — and seemingly magically — join together to elect that top vote-getter, he said.
“Everybody has to agree going in, whoever gets the majority of the vote is going to be the speaker,” Rutherford said. “We’re all going to march out of that room upstairs and vote … for whoever that person is. That’s the way it should work.”
These gQp people are fucking idiots.
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It was in the BBS discussion way back when McCarthy was kicked to the curb and McHenry became interim speaker.
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I could see that playing out…then Gaetz, Gosar, MTG, etc forget that agreement and vote for someone else while flinging poo and screeching.
You know, a typical Thursday.
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Isn’t that theoretically what they’ve already done with Scalise?
Yup, idiots.
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the question is more simply: is it permissible?
duketrout pointed out that, in theory, they shouldn’t be able to amend the rules about speaker powers without a speaker with the powers to introduce those new rules. mchenry can’t introduce legislation. can he introduce rule changes? a plain reading of the rules ( linked above ) seems to say no
that actually makes sense to me, but i haven’t seen any of the media outlets or the parties talking about that… so 
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… but OTOH they can do whatever they want
Anything a simple majority votes for passes
It’s not like SCOTUS is going to stick its nose in and overturn anything because rules 
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ultimately, the parliamentarian would decide. and i think third parties would absolutely sue if they broke their own rules to pass legislation. otherwise, it really is “anything goes”. and then, why even need a speaker at all? just brawl hunger games style for every bill.
( and honestly, neither the senate nor biden would likely touch something plainly against the rules or something the parliamentarian has ruled against )
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… “parliamentarian” is not a Constitutional office and his or her rulings literally don’t count
They’re just suggestions, McHenry could ignore them or the House as a whole could overrule them
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But there is currently no one with the authority to call such a vote. Anything done without that authority can be challenged and if a large enough group does so, anything the majority does as a result can be challenged.
So let’s say they illegally give McHenry limited powers and subsequently pass controversial legislation. That legislation can be challenged because there wasn’t a Consitutionally-approved Speaker to bring the House into session.
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… I’d expect SCOTUS to rule anything that 218 representatives voted for has been passed by the House — how it got there is not their problem
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The Constitution defines the role and power of the Speaker of the House. Any business done without a speaker is null and void. Like it never happened. Even this SCOTUS would rule that way.
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There is apparently enough possibility in it being done in a legal fashion, that it’s being considered seriously. One proposed method:
Rep. Mike Kelly (R-Pa.) is circulating a resolution that would temporarily expand the powers of Speaker Pro Tempore Patrick T. McHenry (R-N.C.) until Nov. 17, when the government will shut down absent congressional action, or until a new speaker is elected. …Mr. Kelly’s resolution would expand Mr. McHenry’s powers by temporarily declaring him the “elected” speaker pro tem rather than the “designated” one.
…if a majority of lawmakers agree to change the rules about what a temporary speaker can do, there’s nothing stopping them.
For a further take on this,
https://archive.ph/wlZhS
… an elected speaker pro tempore has a greater scope of powers, including the ability to preside a joint session of congress.
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nice find! so it sounds like there are some existing rules for an elected temp, rather than an appointed one. they don’t have to create new rules, they just have to manage to elect him.
( my top bets are still either: government will shutdown and stay shutdown; or, jordan’s group will stage a dramatic walk-out during a session, forgetting about quorum – because they are that dumb* – and jefferies gets elected. but, i’m not placing money on any of it. 
)
( *not all extremists are stupid. and neither are all bigots. but, mtg, bobert, gaetz, and co? they are willfully idiots. )
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The possible speaker pro tem elected vs. selected possible changes, are definitely deep in the weeds. 
For me, I will be surprised if a shutdown goes longer than 2 weeks. I think by that point the GOP’s Wall Street backers would freak out enough that, if nothing else, they would find 5 GOP members who are willing to retire rich in order to make a deal with the Democrats. But it is all a bit too crazy to bet right now.
I do really like the idea of Jordan marching out dramatically while the session is still happening, or committing some similar dunderheaded brainfart, and the Democrats vote in Jeffries as speaker. I do think Democrats might not take advantage of such a blunder, at least the first time such a blunder occurred. I think they wouldn’t want to seem to have achieved power through what could be viewed as a technicality.
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The version of this I’m betting on is the GOP being sneaky and trying to return to session from a recess at a sneaky time. Tying to create a scenario where Democrats and GOP not voting for the candidate of the day are not there but still having enough to hold a vote.
That could still lead to a Jefferies speakership for two reasons. First the Democrats are surely watching for this. Second, the GOP clearly cannot count, so they may think enough Democrats are not there and that they have enough GOP votes but be wrong.
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Oct 20, 2:09 PM EDT
](House speaker vote live updates: Republicans, in secret ballot, drop Jordan as nominee - ABC News)
GOP drops Jordan in secret ballot vote
Jordan lost a secret ballot vote to remain the Republican nominee for speaker.
The conference voted to drop him during a closed-door meeting after he lost a third ballot on the House floor.
The secret ballot vote was 86-112.
House Majority Leader Steve Scalise, leaving the meeting, said they wil be “starting over” on Monday.
-ABC’s Rachel Scott, John Parkinson, Lauren Peller, Ben Siegel, Jay O’Brien an
So, I guess let’s see what happens next?
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Knock off early on Friday and go home for the weekend. It’s not like this is a pressing issue after all. 
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marge toilet greene never studied history, or she would know the Founding Fathers were ALL about discussion and compromise.
but I expect nothing rational from miss toilet
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