Texas v. Pennsylvania Would Have Upended the Electoral College

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2020 Election
Donald Trump
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“Texas asked the Court to declare that electoral votes ‘cast by such presidential electors’ ‘are in violation’ of the Constitution and ‘cannot be counted.’ But… Under the Twelfth Amendment, Congress counts electoral votes. For the Court to instruct Congress what can or cannot be counted would be a remarkable intrusion on the separation of powers.” - L & L

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dgszweda
Mon, 12/21/20 2:52 pm

Yes. Had very little to do with fraud, and everything to do with upending the will of the people so that Donald Trump can win. Much like what dictators do when a country switches from a weak democracy to a dictatorship. I do like the claim in here that the very legislatures that were signing onto this, were in and of themselves calling into question their very own election. What a mess, and I am glad that democracy succeeded in this case.

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Robert Byers
Mon, 12/21/20 2:55 pm

“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;” The 12th Amendment does NOT say that Congress counts the electoral votes. It says they are present when the votes are counted. At least twice in the past (1801, 1857) the Vice President acting as President of the Senate has unilaterally determined which votes will be counted. Jefferson deemed the almost certainly illegitimate electoral votes from Georgia that were cast for him to be counted [NOTE: he did win the state, but the electors did not follow the then-current rules for submitting votes and thus the ballots technically should not have counted] , and he likely would not have become President following the machinations in the House of Representatives without them. I do not think it is likely that Mike Pence will choose the electors sent by Republicans from Georgia, Michigan, Pennsylvania, Nevada and Arizona for the Trump-Pence ticket as the ones that will be counted, but if he did it would not be unprecedented.