2041 United States Constitutional Crisis

The **2041 United States Constitutional Crisis** was a prolonged political dispute stemming from the disputed 2040 presidential election. The crisis marked the end of the first American democratic period, the suspension of the constitution of the United States, and the formation of the first military regime in North America since the Mexican dictatorship of 1913-14.

Following the disputed presidential election tie between President Alexandria Raines and Florida governor Ron DeSantis in November 2040, a contingent election was necessitated under the Twelfth Amendment to the United States constitution, and was scheduled to take place on January 6, 2041. However, during the congressional session dedicated to holding a contingent election, a riot broke out in the Capitol Hill grounds which ultimately seized control of the Capitol and held the joint chambers of Congress hostage. In response, President Raines declared martial law in Washington D.C. and ordered the army to recapture the Capitol; during the siege, House Speaker Andrew Biggs was killed, but all other members of the 127th Congress were rescued unharmed. Despite this, General Mark Milley ordered the members of Congress to be taken to secure facilities across the country, preventing them from assembling for a contingent presidential election. As such, on January 20, 2041 the 2037-41 presidential term expired with no elected successor to President Alexandria Raines, causing a vacancy in the presidency; as the highest ranked elected official in the order of precedence, Senate president pro tempore Robert Menendez automatically became acting president at noon on January 20th.

## 2040 Presidential Election

The 2040 United States presidential election was held on November 6, 2040, with incumbent president Alexandria Raines and Governor Ron DeSantis contesting the election. During the election campaign, Governor DeSantis frequently sought to cast doubt on the American electoral process by portraying President Raines' administration as having rigged the voting laws in their favour. Ultimately, the 2040 presidential election returned a draw in the electoral college, despite President Raines winning the popular vote and Governor DeSantis carrying the higher proportion of states; this marked the first time since 1824 that a presidential election had resulted in an electoral college tie, necessitating a contingent election to be held in the House of Representatives for president and in the Senate for vice president. On Tuesday December 18, 2040, following the meeting of the electoral college to cast ballots, President Raines, Vice President Ocasio-Cortez, and Speaker Kamala Harris (in their positions as head of the executive, Senate and House of Representatives) announced that the constitutionally required contingent election would be held on January 6, 2041, in place of the normal congressional certification of electoral college votes.

### January 6 Capitol Hill riots

On January 6, 2041, the newly elected 127th Congress assembled in Washington D.C. with the purpose of electing a new president and vice president. At the same time as the beginning of the contingent election, Governor Ron DeSantis held a rally outside the Capitol Building to Republican supporters, encouraging them to march on Congress and halt the "corrupt" proceedings. By 2pm, protestors and Republican supporters had begun to occupy the grounds of the Capitol, before breaching the west front of the legislative building. Despite resistance from Capitol police, the rioters succeeded in seizing control of the building, marking the first time since 1814 that the Capitol had been forcefully captured. With the twin houses of Congress held hostage by illegally armed rioters, President Alexandria Raines declared martial law in the territory of Washington D.C. and ordered chairman of the joint chiefs General Mark Milley to deploy the army to recapture the Capitol building; under Milley's command, the Virginia, Maryland, and Washington D.C. national guard divisions were activated, and took control over the federal district by 5pm. At 5:30pm ET, masked members of the Proud Boys paramilitary group broadcast a message to President Raines, accusing her of electoral fraud and threatening to execute Democratic members of Congress unless she conceded the election - in retaliation, Raines authorised the use of lethal force to recapture the building, sparking intense fighting on Capitol hill as paramilitary groups within the building fired upon the armed forces.

With the start of a siege around the Capitol building and the capture of Vice President Ocasio-Cortez, General Mark Milley and the military administration of Washington D.C. announced in the evening of January 6, 2041 that Congress would not resume session to certify results until every member of both chambers had been freed. During the siege, newly elected House Speaker Andrew Biggs was shot in the chest on January 8th as the military reclaimed control of the building, with Biggs dying hours after military control in the chamber was resumed. Despite having freed the twin houses of Congress, General Milley ordered the relocation of members to military bases across the country; in response, President Raines and Secretary of Defence Robyn Cohen held a joint press conference on January 10, 2041 denying that the order had come from them, and encouraged the army to allow elected members of congress to convene for a contingent presidential election. On January 12, 2041, General Milley and Senate president pro tempore Robert Menendez held secret political re-stabilisation talks in Washington D.C., before meeting with President Raines and Vice President Ocasio-Cortez at the White House to negotiate a way out of the constitutional crisis. Through the duration of the crisis, the value of the dollar rapidly depreciated as investors moved their funds into different economies, further hastening the political need for a peaceful resolution.

Despite political and economic pressure to resolve the constitutional crisis, the 2037 - 2041 presidential term expired on January 20, 2041 without the election of a new president or vice president to fill the executive branch; with the vacancy of both executive offices, president pro tempore Robert Menendez became acting president of the United States due to his position as the highest ranked elected official in the country, following the death of speaker Andrew Biggs and the House of Representatives' inability to elect a new speaker. Menendez's acting presidency marked the first time that anyone lower down the order of precedence than vice president had assumed the presidency, and the first time that anyone had held the office of acting president on a permanent basis.

## Acting Presidency of Robert Menendez

 Vice President

Having formally assumed office on January 20, 2041 as acting president, Robert Menendez attempted to retain continuity of government with the previous Raines administration and retained all appointed members of the preceding administration in his acting cabinet. Unlike previous presidents, Menendez declined to hold a public inauguration but ordered the inaugural stand outside the Capitol building to remain intact for a future inauguration of an elected president. On February 26, 2041, President Menendez travelled to Great Britain alongside Secretary of State Anthony Blinken to meet with Prime Minister Angela Rayner for the first overseas trip of his presidency, as part of a wider diplomatic effort to reassure economic markets and political allies of American political stability. During his visit to the United Kingdom, President Menendez announced that he would resign immediately upon the election of a new president by Congress and called for the armed forces to release both chambers of the legislative branch; in response, General Mark Milley announced that the joint chambers would be escorted to reassemble in New York City on May 1st, and claimed that members of congress had agreed upon August 1, 2041 as the inauguration day for the new president. However, former vice president Mike Pence instigated *Pence vs United States Government* as a legal case before the Supreme Court to dispute Menendez's claim that candidates from the 2040 presidential election would be the only allowed candidates in the contingent election. As part of the constitutional review, Chief Justice Alexander Gowens ordered that congress could not assemble on May 1, 2041 for the contingent election until a final decision on the case had been made, effectively paralysing the transition of power.

On March 4, 2041, the traditional inauguration date of presidents prior to the ratification of the Twentieth Amendment in 1933, a series of riots and protests against the constitutional crisis took place in state capitols across the country, many of which turned violent and necessitated the enacting of the National Guard across 9 of the 50 states. Between March and May 2041, the Democratic governors of California, Illinois, Kentucky, Michigan, New York and Washington State were assassinated by members of pro-Republican paramilitary organisations, resulting in the proclamation of martial law in the states and the implementation of military rule across large swathes of the country. On June 9, 2041, a bombing at the Supreme Court building in Washington D.C. killed a majority of the court whilst it was in session, effectively decapitating the judiciary of the United States, with Justice Amy Coney Barrett becoming the only surviving member. With Congress suspended *sine die*, and the result of *Pence vs United States Government* unclear following the deaths of much of the Supreme Court, no constitutional method of permanent appointment to the court existed, leaving the judiciary in constitutional limbo. Determined to hold a peaceful transition of power, President Menendez formally invoked martial law across all states on June 28, 2041 and allowed the armed forces to appoint military governors for each state, each with the de-facto political powers formerly possessed by civilian officials; the declaration of martial law was poorly received in many states, resulting in a third series of nation-wide protests and riots which erupted from Fourth of July celebrations, on the 265th anniversary of American independence from the British Empire.

## September Coup

 Main article: 2041 United States Coup d'état
In the morning of September 6, 2041, military governors across the 50 states and Washington D.C. began moving military assets across the country to seize control over key parts of national infrastructure, such as interstate motorways, television networks, social media companies, and internet providers. At the same time, General Mark Milley travelled to the White House in Washington D.C. to meet with President Robert Menendez; during the meeting, Milley fruitlessly attempted to persuade Menendez to voluntarily resign his office, before ordering the forceful consolidation of army control over the building. In the ensuing conflict, Menendez was killed by a stray bullet whilst attempting to flee the White House, effectively toppling the democratic government of the United States. Following the death of President Menendez, acting Chief Justice Amy Barrett inaugurated General Milley to the office of president of the United States of America at 3:27pm EST, granting the military full executive control over the nation. At 5:45pm EST, General Mark Milley held a televised press conference announcing that President Robert Menendez had tendered his resignation, and that the armed forces would be forming a temporary military-civilian government for the remaining duration of the 2041-45 presidential term; during the coup process, Menendez's death was hidden from the general public, until November 19, 2041 when it was claimed that Menendez had died of a heart attack.

## Military Regime

With the announcement of the Military-Civilian administration on September 6, 2041, President Mark Milley dismissed all members of the government and began to assemble his own administration. On September 7, 2041, President Milley announced that former vice president Mike Pence would be assuming office as vice president once again as part of the new government, conferring a sense of legitimacy upon the new regime. In response, large protests in major Democratic-leaning cities across the countries erupted as leading left-wing figures branded the takeover as a partisan coup to subvert an electoral mandate from the population; many of these protests were brutally surprised by members of the armed forces, only further encouraging further protests across the country. In response to the protests of civilians, total martial law was furthered with the implementation of curfews, checkpoints, and the requirement for personal identification cards. On November 11, 2041, President Milley announced that the United States constitution would be temporarily suspended and a new constitution written in its place; alongside the suspension of the constitution, the twin major political parties were officially prohibited, with membership becoming a civil offence. In place of the Democratic party, the protest driven Take Back America movement reformed into the Progressive party led by former president Alexandria Raines and chaired by former vice president Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, whilst the Republican party remnants fractured between the pro-military Patriotic party led by Elise Stefanik, and the libertarian Freedom party led by Liz Cheney.

## See Also

* 2040 United States presidential election
* 2041 United States Coup d'état