12 THINGS YOU NEED TO KNOW ABOUT ARTICLE II & WHY IT IS A VIABLE PATHWAY TO TRUMP’S VICTORY & INAUGURATION ON 20TH JANUARY 2021
By
Enenche Enenche
There is the quivering euphoria suggesting it is all done and dusted for President Donald J. Trump and nothing can be done about it. The narrative is already moving towards portraying Trump as illegitimately challenging the 2020 Presidential election results, especially now that the Electoral College has formally confirmed Joe Biden as President-Elect. But nothing is farther from the truth. The merchants of disinformation do everything possible to take attention away from what is statutorily prescribed in Article II of the Constitution of the United States. And given a vast majority have long been seduced to hate Trump at any cost, news that indicates it is over for him is greeted with fanfare.
Nevertheless, amidst the varied pathways to a Trump’s victory, it is important to know that the ongoing efforts by state legislatures to challenge the election results in Pennsylvania, Georgia, Michigan, Wisconsin, and Arizona, holds a fundamental place in Article II, Section 1, Clause 2 of the United States Constitution. And there are precedents in history, including the Contingent Election between Thomas Jefferson and Aaron Burr in 1801, and the bipartisan Congressional Commission of 1877, which elected Republican presidential candidate, Rutherford B. Hayes ahead of democratic candidate Samuel J. Tilden, by a margin of one vote.
In my synopsis, “40 Things You Need to Know About the Texas Lawsuit” posted to Facebook on 11th December 2020, I highlighted the crucial role of the legislature in securing a Trump’s victory on 6th January 2021. Here 12 facts why the actions by the legislature in the battleground states are not efforts in futility:
1. In essence, Article II Section 1, Clause 2, puts the responsibility on the state legislature to determine how electors should be appointed so they can vote in the Electoral College for President and Vice President. But the section of the US Constitution also implies the state legislature can delegate that responsibility to the executive, as Legislature deems necessary.
2. What that means is that Article II recognises the state Legislature as primarily responsible for selecting electors, and even where the executive does so, it should be a delegated responsibility from the legislature.
3. By implication, the Legislature can withdraw such delegation duty, in the event it disagrees with the process leading to the selection of the electors by the executive. Such action of the Legislature could be linked to disputes arising from the conduct of a presidential election in the particular state.
4. In other words, Article II puts the responsibility of selecting electors to vote in a presidential election on the state legislature. Hence even though the Electors selected by the executive in the battleground states have already cast their votes in the Electoral College, the legislature in these states or even a segment of it can still appeal to the United States Congress. This is ahead of January 6, 2021, certification of Electoral College Votes from across the Country by Congress, to determine the Presidential candidate to be sworn-in on 20th January 2020.
5. The votes cast by Republican and Democratic Electors in the Electoral College across the country, are expected to be received in Washington DC on 23rd Dec. 2020. The conditional votes cast by the Alternate Slate of Electors in the battleground states will also be received in DC ahead of the January 6, 2021, Joint Session of Congress.
6. The 12th Amendment requires that the “President of the Senate (Mike Pence), in the presence of the Senate and House of Representatives, open all the certificates and the votes shall be counted”.
7. In the event there are competing electors from Pennsylvania, Georgia, Michigan, Wisconsin, and Arizona, Vice-President Mike Pence has the final authority to decide which electors to accept and which to reject from the battleground states.
8. Pence is expected to choose Trump Electors or set aside both slates of electors from the battleground states. The latter will set the stage for a Contingent Election, where each of the 50 states will vote by a delegation. Essentially a Contingent Election requires the House to vote by delegation to elect the President, and the Senate to elect the Vice President.
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