oust the jurisdiction of the Senate to inquire into the legality of the
election.[162] Nor does such refusal unlawfully deprive the State which
elected such person of its equal suffrage in the Senate.[163]


"A QUORUM TO DO BUSINESS"

For many years the view prevailed in the House of Representatives that
it was necessary for a majority of the members to vote on any
proposition submitted to the House in order to satisfy the
constitutional requirement for a quorum. It was a common practice for
the opposition to break a quorum by refusing to vote. This was changed
in 1890, by a ruling made by Speaker Reed, and later embodied in Rule XV
of the House, that members present in the chamber but not voting would
be counted in determining the presence of a quorum.[164] The Supreme
Court upheld this rule in United States _v._ Ballin,[165] saying that
the capacity of the House to transact business is "created by the mere
presence of a majority," and that since the Constitution does not
prescribe any method for determining the presence of such majority "it
is therefore within the competency of the House to prescribe any method
which shall be reasonably certain to ascertain the fact."[166] The rules
of the Senate provide for the ascertainment of a quorum only by a roll
call,[167] but in a few cases it has held that if a quorum is present, a
proposition can be determined by the vote of a lesser number of
members.[168]


RULES OF PROCEDURE

In the exercise of their constitutional power to determine their rules