When the President of the Senate has opened the certificates and handed them over to the tellers of the two houses, in the presence of the two houses, his functions and powers have ended.  He cannot repossess himself of those certificates or papers.  He can no longer control their custody.  They are then and thereafter in the possession and under the control of the two houses who shall alone dispose of them.

Why, sir, what a spectacle would it be, some ambitious and unscrupulous man the presiding officer of the Senate, as was once Aaron Burr, assuming the power to order the tellers to count the vote of this State and reject the vote of that, and so boldly and shamelessly reverse the action of the people expressed at the polls, and step into the presidency by force of his own decision.  Sir, this is a reduction of the thing to an absurdity never dreamed of until now, and impossible while this shall remain a free government of law.

Now, Mr. President, as to the measure before us a few words.  It will be observed that this bill is enacted for the present year, and no longer.

This is no answer to an alleged want of constitutional power to pass it, but it is an answer in great degree where the mere policy and temporary convenience of the act are to be considered.

In the first place, the bill gives to each house of Congress equal power over the question of counting, at every stage.

It preserves intact the prerogatives, under the Constitution, of each house.

It excludes any possibility of judicial determination by the presiding officer of the Senate upon the reception and exclusion of a vote.

The certificates of the electoral colleges will be placed in the possession and subject to the disposition of both houses of Congress in joint session.

The two houses are co-ordinate and separate and distinct.  Neither can dominate the other.  They are to ascertain whether the electors have been validly appointed, and whether they have validly performed their duties as electors.  The two houses must, under the act of 1792, “ascertain and declare” whether there has been a valid election, according to the Constitution and laws of the United States.  The votes of the electors and the declaration of the result by the two houses give a valid title, and nothing else can, unless no majority has been disclosed by the count; in which case the duty of the House is to be performed by electing a President, and of the Senate by electing a Vice-President.

If it be the duty of the two houses “to ascertain” whether the action of the electors has been in accordance with the Constitution, they must inquire.  They exercise supervisory power over every branch of public administration and over the electors.  The methods they choose to employ in coming to a decision are such as the two houses, acting separately or together, may lawfully employ.  Sir, the grant of power