Supreme Court snubs House Republicans who avoided metal detectors in Congress after Jan. 6

What happens in Congress stays in Congress, the Supreme Court signaled Monday, rejecting the appeal of three Republican congressmen who were each fined $5,000 by the House for circumventing security scanners installed after the January 6 attack on the Capitol.

The court’s decision comes months after judges rejected the cases of three other Republican congressmen whose salaries were reduced in 2021 for flouting a mask mandate in the House during the COVID pandemic.

In the current case, Representatives Andrew Clyde, Republican of Georgia, Lloyd Smucker, Republican of Pennsylvania, and former Representative Louie Gohmert of Texas had asked the high court to intervene regarding the “massive fines” they have incurred for ignoring installed magnetometers. outside the House chamber after rioters attacked the Capitol in a violent attempt to thwart the certification of President Joe Biden’s election.

The scanners were controversial at the time, and the House rule to install them passed by a handful of votes. “It is incomprehensible that any member would refuse to adhere to these simple, common-sense measures to keep this body safe,” then-House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said after the vote.

Two weeks after the Capitol attack, media reported that Rep. Andy Harris, Republican of Maryland, was turned away from the chamber after a scanner revealed he was carrying a concealed handgun.

Related: Mask mandates? Supreme Court rejects appeal from Marjorie Taylor Greene and GOP lawmakers

It is unclear when the incidents involving Clyde, Smucker and Gohmert took place. Gohmert said in February 2021 that he briefly left the house floor to go to the bathroom and did not know he had to be scanned again before returning.

“Until yesterday, no one mentioned the need to carry a wand after entering the toilet directly in front of the guards,” he said. “Unlike the movie The Godfather, there are no toilets with tanks where you could hide a gun, so my re-entry into the house should have been no problem.” Gohmert retired in 2022.

Clyde, Smucker and Gohmert refused to pay their fines after losing their appeal before the House Ethics Committee, and each had their salaries reduced by $5,000. Members of Congress earn a base salary of $174,000.

The security fraudsters then sued the House sergeant-at-arms and the agency’s chief administrator, arguing that the officials violated the Constitution’s 27th Amendment by “altering” their congressionally mandated salaries. They said metal detectors and the wage issue were not within the legislative function of Congress — making them fair game for federal courts despite the separation of powers in the U.S. government.

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Lawyers for the House representatives responded that Congress’s job is solely up to Congress under the Constitution and that elected representatives have their salaries changed regularly to account for withholding taxes and other issues.

A federal appeals panel has ruled — much as it did in the masking case brought by Marjorie Taylor Greene, Republican of Georgia, and two other Republicans — that the judiciary does not have control over Congress .

On Monday, the High Court upheld this decision by refusing to take up the metal detectors case.

Metal detectors were shut down in 2023 after Republicans gained a majority in the House. But that didn’t solve the problem.

In February 2023, sparks flew at a meeting of the House Natural Resources Committee after Rep. Jared Huffman (D-Calif.) called for the reinstatement of a rule banning firearms in the committee room.

“I feel like I need it everywhere here,” Rep. Lauren Boebert, R-Colo., was quoted as saying. “A lot of times we get harassed in the hallways. We walk alone. She added that any weapon she carries “must not be an unloaded weapon.”

Capital police and a spokeswoman for Rep. Harris did not respond to inquiries about the status of a reported investigation into his 2021 gun incident.

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Supreme Court snubs Republicans who dodged House security after Jan. 6.