re: #108 Hecuba’s daughter

From Article 2 of the Constitution:

“Each State shall appoint, in such Manner as the Legislature thereof may direct, a Number of Electors, equal to the whole Number of Senators and Representatives to which the State may be entitled in the Congress: but no Senator or Representative, or Person holding an Office of Trust or Profit under the United States, shall be appointed an Elector.”

There is nothing in there about a Governor having to approve this. Yes, each state has a law specifying that the electors are chosen by popular vote. But SCOTUS is stacked with originalists who may very well revert to the explicit text of the Constitution. The Republican Party has repeatedly shown that all it cares about is power and wealth. We are in uncharted waters here and may be witnessing the death of our republic, with the full approval of 73 million of our fellow Americans.

Either the Republican Party stops this now or we will not recover.

When federal law is silent on a subject, the usual rule in Federal court is to defer to state-level law. In all applicable cases, that state level law makes state legislators stepping in (without making new law) to override an election illegal. The US constitution is simply irrelevant on this point.

Sure, SCOTUS could do the maximum GOP hackitude thing, but IMO that’s unlikely, even for this SCOTUS. Roberts and Gorsuch seem to be the likeliest to hold the line here.

And why wouldn’t they hold the line? Judges only have power if laws mean something, and to illegally put Trump in office like this would be the end of rule of law in the US.