Not going gently

UNDER NORMAL CIRCUMSTANCES, FEW AMERIcans would know Emily Murphy’s name. The head of the General Services Administration (GSA) is the ultimate Washington bureaucrat, responsible for signing the leases and procuring the supplies that keep the Executive Branch running. “I am not here to garner headlines or make a name for myself,” she testified in 2017. “My goal is to do my part in making the federal government more efficient, effective and responsive to the American people.” The Senate unanimously confirmed her to her post, which she has held ever since.

But in the days after Joe Biden was determined to have won the presidential election, Murphy found herself at the center of the most tumultuous transfer of power in decades. Media outlets from the Associated Press to Fox News called Biden the winner on Nov. 7, assessing that despite the usual isolated irregularities and a smattering of lawsuits, it was mathematically impossible for Donald Trump to overcome his vote deficit in enough states to change the Electoral College result. But Trump has refused to concede, and has conjured fantasies of widespread fraud for which he has provided no proof. Taking their cues, nearly all Republican officials have refused to recognize Biden’s victory until Trump’s challenges are exhausted. And Murphy has so far declined to issue the letter, known as an “ascertainment,” that would formally allow the presidential transition to begin.

Until Murphy flips that switch, the transfer of power is in limbo. Under federal law, once the GSA’s ascertainment is issued, the incoming Administration receives millions of dollars in funds, suites of federal offices and temporary security clearances to handle classified information. Trump had access to all these things starting Nov. 9, 2016, the day after his election by far narrower margins in key states.

The orderly transfer of power has been a bedrock of American democracy from its founding in the 18th century, and the consequences of Trump’s standoff are