Please, Madame Speaker Pelosi, take care in choosing who will Chair the House Jan. 6 Select Committee. Now is not the time for any of the usual norms in choosing committee chairs.
In my opinion, the following two reasons would not be appropriate reasons by themselves for choosing someone to be chair of the Jan. 6 Select Committee: seniority in the House or a committee or experience chairing committees. Rep. Katie Porter's whiteboard would be a better chair than someone chosen for only one or both of those reasons.
The decision should be meritocratic, not whose turn it is to chair a committee. The chair needs to be someone, in my opinion, who is intelligent, sharp, serious, fearless, commanding, and resolute in enforcing subpoenas and in taking depositions when necessary. The choice of the chair could be one of the most important decisions made that will ensure democracy in this country.