Vice President Mike Pence convened the two chambers of Congress to count electoral votes and officially certify Joe Biden as the president-elect of the United States. This is usually a straightforward and purely ceremonial procedure that takes around one hour. Yet these are not “normal” times.

First, several Republican lawmakers, in a brazen but doomed effort to keep Trump in office, started raising objections to the results of the electoral college, prolonging the process. Then, in an unprecedented attempt to overturn the election, thousands of pro-Trump protesters stormed and “occupied” the Capitol. As people wearing MAGA (“Make America Great Again”) hats and carrying Trump flags rampaged through offices and onto the legislative floors, lawmakers were told to shelter in place in the House Gallery. Washington, DC Mayor Muriel Bowser swiftly put the US capital under curfew and announced a two-week state of emergency.