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Fascinating but chilling article by Jeffrey Toobin in the Sept 28 New Yorker detailing the legal fight that's probably inevitable following the election.
https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2020/09/28/the-legal-fight-awaiting-us-after-the-election
I am curious to know what people make of the following paragraphs. Worst case scenario seems to be if there's a protracted dispute about vote results. Article II of the Constitution says that state legislatures must appoint electoral college electors "in such Manner as the Legislature thereof may direct."
So here's the bit that really scared me:
"The bland legal language obscures the magnitude of this conclusion. It means that a state legislature can simply ignore the votes cast by the state’s citizens and award its Presidential electors to the candidate of its choice.... [T]o date, no state in the modern era has attempted to preëmpt its voters in this way. Still, the Constitution can arguably be read to give legislatures the power to do so. It’s even conceivable that, if President Trump claimed that a Biden victory in a state was based on fraud, a Republican legislature could overturn the result."
Insanely undemocratic, no?
https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2020/09/28/the-legal-fight-awaiting-us-after-the-election
I am curious to know what people make of the following paragraphs. Worst case scenario seems to be if there's a protracted dispute about vote results. Article II of the Constitution says that state legislatures must appoint electoral college electors "in such Manner as the Legislature thereof may direct."
So here's the bit that really scared me:
"The bland legal language obscures the magnitude of this conclusion. It means that a state legislature can simply ignore the votes cast by the state’s citizens and award its Presidential electors to the candidate of its choice.... [T]o date, no state in the modern era has attempted to preëmpt its voters in this way. Still, the Constitution can arguably be read to give legislatures the power to do so. It’s even conceivable that, if President Trump claimed that a Biden victory in a state was based on fraud, a Republican legislature could overturn the result."
Insanely undemocratic, no?