there s always been this sort of fantasy prospect that the house could pick somebody who is not actually a member of congress. you don t have to be a member of congress in order to be speaker of the house. it s possible that they could throw a huge hail mary and pick somebody they could all agree on, but who isn t a member of congress. that s always one of these fantasy ideas in politics. today it seems more probable than a lot of other more mainstream options. those of us who love studying american government also know you don t need to be a lawyer to sit on the supreme court but we are still waiting for the modern era version of that. rachel maddow, thank you for calling in. on this busy news afternoon. those just joining us, this was supposed to be a more or less pro forma day for the gop caucus, the controlling caucus in the house of representatives. kevin mccarthy, one of the closest lieutenants to the outgoing speaker of the house,