U.S. News reported on Saturday, November 14, 2020—only 10 days into a post-election contest period which usually and quite normally lasts around 30 days—that the Republican legislative leadership in Arizona, Wisconsin, Michigan and Pennsylvania declared that they would not use their constitutional authority to select and direct electors to vote for Trump. As discussed below, this could easily have the practical effect, if not the intention, of checkmating the Trump Campaign’s strongest legal challenge under the first SCOTUS decision of Bush v. Gore. Why would they do that? Simply put: Because donors and elected officials in Republican circles are cowards. The Left’s months of violent and unchecked uprisings have caused them to see visions of heads on pikes and civil war if legislatures or courts were to take action that results in Trump winning re-election.
Right or wrong, they want the after-election contest over as soon as possible.
Just look at Fox News declaring Arizona instantaneously, the rush to anoint Biden with the fake title “President Elect,” the fake recounts in Arizona and Georgia, and now this unilateral and impulsive abandonment of constitutional authority by Republican legislatures in the four key states under scrutiny. It doesn’t matter what the law says or the evidence reveals, it is clear the Republican establishment wants to join arms with the Democrat party to settle the election in Biden’s favor. They even feel that it is ennobling to do so.
The Republican establishment views surrendering to the big lie of Biden’s win as an honorable choice made for the good of the country and the Republic.
Like Dr. Manhattan in the Watchmen (the movie/graphic novel, not the godawful HBO series), the Republican establishment is willing to nuke the Constitution, the legitimacy of this election, and the credibility of the ballot box to save us from premonitions of bloodshed.
For this gambit to work, the establishment needs what happened on November 3rd and 4th to remain a black box; and to glide past all questions before answers can be found and publicized. Naturally, this means they wanted to close off Trump’s most likely route for quick legal success as soon as they could. Their hand was forced on Saturday, in particular, because they had to take the wind out of the sails of the explosively growing Stop-the-Steal movement, which inspired tens of thousands, if not hundreds of thousands, of MAGA supporters to converge on DC and state capitols the same day—they can’t allow another Tea Party movement to get traction before the dirty deed is done.
Why does the declaration by Republican Legislative Leadership in Arizona, Wisconsin, Michigan and Pennsylvania to abandon their authority over electors in favor of the dubious election results amount to a kill shot for Trump’s strongest legal challenge? Because it will cause SCOTUS to back away from enforcing Bush v. Gore I—Trump’s most straightforward path for early legal victory.
Bush v. Gore I (the first decision SCOTUS rendered in the famous litigation) clearly stated that the state legislature makes the election rules under the Constitution, not state courts; and, by logical implication, certainly not state executive branch officials like the Secretary of State. Bush v. Gore I made it clear that if any branch other than the legislature changes the election rules before the election, that change is unconstitutional. But that’s exactly what executive (and, in some cases, judicial) officials did in each of Arizona, Wisconsin, Michigan and Pennsylvania to one substantial degree or another. Hundreds of thousands, perhaps millions of ballots, are tainted by that lawless decision alone. There is no COVID 19 pandemic exception to Bush v. Gore I or the Constitution. The rule of law requires throwing out hundreds of thousands, perhaps millions, of ballots that were illegally cast for Biden. This decision could be reached after a few hours of legal analysis.
But how likely is it for SCOTUS to do that if the key legislatures in question, led by Republicans no less, openly abandon their constitutional authority over the electoral process and the electors in particular?
Not likely at all. SCOTUS will translate this recent declaration by Republican leadership in the four key states as essentially stating the relevant state legislatures are perfectly fine with the executive changes in the electoral laws, not merely signaling that they are happy to abandon their constitutional authority to select and appoint electors.
While being pounded incessantly by the media, SCOTUS will get the message. SCOTUS will see the governing body most directly responsible for determining the outcome of the presidential election (besides the electoral college itself) abandoning its constitutional authority in favor of the chyron “President Elect” declarations of Fox News, CNN, MSN and others. SCOTUS will understand that the overtly political branch of the electoral process wants to shift its duty under the Constitution to the judiciary to avoid political fallout. Naturally, the judiciary hates being in that position—perhaps legitimately so—and SCOTUS will find a way out if it can.
Afterall, why would SCOTUS—more so than the state legislatures in question—void hundreds of thousands or millions of illegal Biden ballots, when the principal constitutional beneficiaries of this remedy (the state legislatures of Arizona, Michigan, Wisconsin and Pennsylvania) are signaling that they would rather just go along with the vote as originally called?
If the justices infer that the state legislatures in question would rather sweep things under the rug, a majority of SCOTUS is not going to go out on a limb and enforce the Constitution, strike down executive actions that resulted in illegal ballots, suffer a huge blowback to judiciary’s institutional reputation (deserved or not), and—at the same time—risk the very real possibility that the state legislatures will simply let the original outcome stand anyway. Instead, SCOTUS will likely drag its feet and ultimately refuse the case if based on Bush v. Gore I. Ironically, this might be the safest move for preserving what little would remain of the rule of law, as compared to the alternatives of enforcing the Constitution to no avail (allowing a fraudulently or illegally elected President to take office) or devising a ridiculous ruling that refused to apply Bush v. Gore I in the straightforward manner the facts clearly demand.
But it is not too late to stop the Republican establishment’s effort to checkmate the Trump campaign’s near term legal efforts.
We must demand that state legislatures in Arizona, Michigan, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin repudiate their respective leadership’s hasty and elitist decision.
We must apply pressure to the state legislatures of Arizona, Michigan, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin to declare clearly that if SCOTUS enforces the constitution and invalidates illegally cast ballots, then the original illegitimate outcome will not be allowed to control their state’s electors.
We need the state legislatures of Arizona, Michigan, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin to clearly and unequivocally declare their intent to wield their authority under the U.S. Constitution to select electors who will disregard illegally cast ballots in their home state when voting in the Electoral College.
In the final analysis, there is no nobility in cowardice. It is counterproductive to join in a lawless scam to avoid confrontation with lawlessness, even if mob violence results. Strong support for law enforcement, together with a well-regulated militia—and not just the national guard—has a far greater chance of suppressing mob violence than such “noble cowardice.”
Let us never forget Patrick Henry’s spirit in this country, “Give me liberty or give me death;” not because we want death, but because we will lose everything if we do not defend liberty (and the rule of law that sustains it) with our lives.
The Republic will stand only if we stand up for it against the mob.
Written in collaboration with Rorschach