Loading ...Call for papers … please … “Dueling Electors”
“If lawmakers cannot agree on a set of electors, the country will find itself in uncharted territory.”
This is from October but is reasonably prescient.
Has anyone seen an updated version or a different take?
The President’s Constitutional Plan.
It involves two steps, or two fronts: First the Courts, then the House.
-The Trump Campaign, RNC, various state GOP Parties, third party organizations, are filing county, state, and federal lawsuits.
A Republic, not a Democracy.
-The primary objective is to strategically get several ballots invalidated.
-However, a secondary objective is to publicly expose “corruption” in these cities to both STATE reps and US House and Senate Leaders. This is crucial.
-While keeping the 73 million Trump supporters engaged and working behind the scenes.
-There seems to be success in this, as two polls show 60% of the US now believe “fraud” occurred and only 49% believe Biden won. These polls have a 37-32 D:R bias.
-Keep in mind, MSM “calls” are merely “projections” of how a state voted in the popular vote. Strictly speaking, they means nothing.
-Win, or lose in court, the next step is the GOP State Legislatures (SLs) in PA, MI, WI, AZ and GA.
A Republican, not a Democracy.
-On December 14, 2020, Certified Electors from each state, cast their ballots for the President and VP. What many do not realize is they vote in their home state and their vote is sealed and NOT “counted” until January 6th. Crucial point.
-Now, the SLs have the Constitutional authority (under Article II, Section 1, Clause 3 and 3 U.S. Code § 2 and § 5) to appoint their own slate of Electors, loyal to President Trump, if they deem their state’s “POPULAR VOTE IS CORRUPTED”.
-In other words, the State GOP Legislature of Georgia, for example, can “conclude that the popular vote has been corrupted” and appoint a “competing slate” of electors, loyal to President Trump. For example, 20 Biden Electors from PA & 20 for Trump.
A Republic, not a Democracy.
-The precedent for this is the 1876 Election when SC, LA, FL and (1 EV from OR) each sent competing Dem and Repub Electoral votes, sealed, to the archivist in D.C.
-Keep in mind, NOTHING is “counted” yet. Another crucial point.
-On January 6, the 12th Amendment to the Constitution specifies that the “President of the Senate shall, in the presence of the Senate and House of Representatives, open all the certificates and the votes shall then be counted.”
-That means that in the case of disputes about competing electoral slates, the President of the Senate—Vice President Pence—would appear to have the ultimate authority to decide which to accept and which to reject. This is supported by 3 U.S. Code § 15. Hence, Trump wins.
-This is a de facto check on the Electoral College, which few realize because it only happened in 1876.
A Republic, not a Democracy.
-If at that point, nobody gets to 270, the 12th Amendment stipulates, “the House of Representatives shall choose immediately, by ballot, the President. But in choosing the President, the votes shall be taken by states, the representation from each state having one vote.”
-Currently, Republicans have a state delegation majority with 26 (likely 30 in the new Congress) out of 50. Ergo, Trump wins.
-Prez Trump has clearly discussed and been briefed on a strategy to contest the election via Constitutional means, first through the courts and then…
…through House, saying at a Sept. 26 rally in—where else—Pennsylvania: “And I don’t want to end up in the Supreme Court and I don’t want to go back to Congress either, even though we have an advantage if we go back to Congress — does everyone understand that? I think it’s….
…26 to 22 or something because it’s counted one vote per state, so we actually have an advantage. Oh, they’re going to be thrilled to hear that.”
NO clearer indication exists that this was his plan all along.
-Moreover, Politico reports, “In private, Trump has discussed the possibility of the presidential race being thrown into the House as well, raising the issue with GOP lawmakers, according to Republican sources” such as McConnell, Graham, McCarthy, etc.
-This would explain Sen. McConnell’s resolute backing of President Trump. It is clear, McConnell, who is shrewd and believes in raw power, knows POTUS is on solid Constitutional ground. With our help, he will hold the GOP Caucus in line.
– In a contested 2020 election, like the Election of 1876, the Republican Senate and Democratic House would disagree on which electors to accept. This is called a “disputation.”
A Republic, not a Democracy.
-Under the Constitution, there exists no mechanism to resolve a dispute in which the two houses of Congress cannot agree upon a certified set of electors, and there is no Constitutional role for the courts, including the Supreme Court. This is another crucial point.
-Hence, Trump’s Sept. 26th references to FIRST the COURTS, then the HOUSE (see above).
-The House and Senate GOP (McCarthy & McConnell) shall argue under the language of the 12th amendment, the President of the Senate—Vice President Mike Pence—has the sole discretion…
….to break a deadlock between the Senate and the House, and to either accept or dismiss disputed electors.
-Republicans will point to the historical pedigree of the VP’s position, observing that the GOP made the same argument during the election of 1876.
-Given the language of the Twelfth Amendment, whatever its ambiguity and potential policy objections, there is no other possible single authority to identify for this purpose besides the President of the Senate to act as the arbiter of any disputes and break deadlocks.
-In fact, within Pence’s powers, he could either accept the competing slates of electors submitted, or dismiss them as disputed, and not have them counted. A reduced total still delivers Trump a victory BECAUSE IT DEPRIVES BIDEN OF 270. This is another crucial point.
-If 270 is not reached, then under the 12th amend, “the House of Representatives shall “choose immediately”, in this scenario, reelecting President Trump to a second term because, as stated above, the GOP controls the House Delegation majority.
A Republic, not a Democracy.
So, what we need to do is KEEP CALLING, EMAILING, ORGANIZAING, MARCHING, and FORCING the GOP at the State and Federal levels to appoint a Republican slate of electors for Prez Trump and SUPPORT HIM 1000%.
End.
In case anyone is wondering about @realDonaldTrump’s plan re competing slates, he just claimed victory in PA again.
By doing this, he’s telegraphing to State GOP leaders, in his opinion “the popular vote is corrupted” and they must act.
I’m trying 2b objective in my analysis.
Addendum Trump’s Constitutional Plan (See above):
-Dec. 14 the Electoral College votes, but on January 6, is when it is “counted”.
-If one member of the House and one Senator dispute or “object” an electoral vote, or a state slate, both houses withdraw to debate the issue.
-Now, 3 U.S.C. § 6 says “if there is “controversy” re an election, then the governor must, “as soon as practicable after such determination,” communicate, “under the seal of the State…a certificate of such determination in form and manner as the same shall have been made.”
-This suggests that, if a governor is ignoring controversy, or a contested election result and not issuing a determination, and communicating it properly, s/he is breaking federal law.
-I believe this too is where objections re “certified” state electors will arise on Jan 6.
-For example, the GA, AZ, and PA results, will likely disputed by the Senate (R) because the govs of those states are AWOL, ignoring pleases for audits. Thus, their states’ results will be challenged as “unlawfully certified”.
-This will be resisted by the Dem House.
-Now, under the Electoral Count Act of 1877, it is unclear if the House accepts a slate and the Senate rejects it, how to move beyond an impasse. What is clear is that tradition holds “The President of the Senate” is the tie breaker. Ergo, Trump wins.
-Therefore, if disputes are raised over MI, PA, GA, and AZ, for example, and the House (D) & Senate (R) are tied, and Pence decides to side with the GOP and throw out the slates (which he would), neither Biden or Trump, could get to 270.
-The election results are rendered moot.
-If that occurs, the 12th Amendment CLEARLY says the “US House” delegations would “immediately” choose the president, while the Senate picks the VP.
-The GOP controls 26 of 50 US House delegations.
The House would reelect Trump.
-The Senate reelects Pence.
As I said earlier: we have a contested election.
We are headed toward a Constitutional crisis.
But @POTUS has a Constitutional plan, rooted in federalism, to be reelected.
Pray, if you pray, and if you don’t…maybe you should start.
• • •
Above is from Twitter https://twitter.com/Maximus_4EVR/status/1327399292923875328?s=20
Good stuff!! .. I’ve been seeing that in various places from time to time.
It’s pretty nutty.
From http://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2020/12/exclusive-six-swing-states-pa-ga-mi-wi-az-nv-new-mexico-pick-slate-electoral-delegates-president-trump-joe-biden-means/ –
‘The Electoral Count Act [I think from 1880s – Karl], often described by academics as “unintelligible,” seems to favor the slate of electors certified by the state’s governor, according to Ned Foley, a professor at Ohio State University Moritz College of Law.
‘But Foley notes that some scholars and an analysis by the Congressional Research Service have rejected that conclusion.
‘Academics have sketched out several scenarios….There is even a[n extreme] scenario in which the Speaker of the House, currently Democrat Nancy Pelosi, could become acting president.’
I’ve read and read over recent weeks. They went through all sorts of stuff after the election of 1876, in which NY Governor Samuel Tilden was elected President by the popular vote (albeit apparently by a number of phantom votes from S Carolina). He was arguably robbed when the Republicans and the southern Dems put in Hayes (R) with the sneaky negotiated proviso that Jim Crow stuff be put in in the South and Reconstruction ended. Part of what occurred was that the US House had such trouble deciding that they – in typical fashion – set up some outside committee or commission to decide for them. This committee decided the results by something like a 9 to 7 vote. I’ve read that Tilden was going to get inaugurated in NYC but (Republican) Pres US Grant sent word 2 days before that federal troops were getting sent to break up that inauguration.
In other words, quite the mess. Not that the election of 1860 resolved things in too neat a way. Or I think the 1824 one. There were problems with other ones too. Others may find errors in what I’ve written. Not an area of expertise for me!
…
Trump often gets what he wants in the long run. We will see.
Gore Vidal’s novel 1876 – far from his best – was still pretty good as I recall. (Better read after the excellent Burr and even better Lincoln – not that you have time – and then followed by Empire and Hollywood.)
https://www.theepochtimes.com/pennsylvania-georgia-nevada-and-arizona-republican-electors-cast-votes-for-trump_3618147.html?
Either way, Congress is likely to end up with competing slates of electors come Jan. 6, when the two chambers are scheduled to count the votes. While a process exists to resolve disputes between duelling electors, it has never been tested in the courts.
Approving a set of electors would require the majority in both chambers. The balance of power in the Senate will be determined by the results of the two runoff elections in Georgia. Should Democrats win both seats, a 50-50 tie in the Senate would hand the tiebreaker vote to the vice president.
If lawmakers cannot agree on a set of electors, the country will find itself in uncharted territory, which may prompt intervention from the Supreme Court. If history is a guide, the state delegations in the House may have to pick a president. Republicans have the majority of delegations.