Category Archives: electoral college

John Eastman, in National Review Interview, Tries to Distance Himself from His Own Memo Suggesting How VP Pence Could Steal the Election for Trump, Repudiates Its Major Points

October 22, 2021, 6:54 amelection subversion risk, electoral college, fraudulent fraud squadRick Hasen

Signs that Eastman is getting increasingly desperate to distance himself from his false claims that the election was stolen from Trump and that VP Pence could unilaterally steal it back for him when Congress was supposed to confirm the Electoral… Continue reading

Section 3 of the Fourteenth Amendment and January 6, 2025: the need for legislation now

October 14, 2021, 2:42 pmballot access, election subversion risk, electoral collegeNed Foley

All the current talk of Donald Trump running again in 2024 assumes that he’s eligible to serve as president if reelected. He’s not, or at least there’s a strong argument that he isn’t. In fairness to America’s voters, this argument ought… Continue reading

“John Eastman’s Big Lie”

October 13, 2021, 8:07 amchicanery, election subversion risk, electoral collegeRick Hasen

George Thomas at The Constitutionalist: John Eastman was the architect of former President Trump’s plan to get his Vice President to declare him the winner of the 2020 election. The scheme turned on Eastman’s insistence that in seven states… Continue reading

Latest statement on Eastman still relies on the unilateral power of the Vice President to ignore the Electoral Count Act

October 11, 2021, 1:20 pmelectoral collegeDerek Muller

It seems the Eastman controversy will never end…. But one should not bury the lede: this theory, too, relies on unilateral vice presidential power to ignore the Electoral Count Act. Setting aside any narrative issues about what Eastman did or… Continue reading

Greg Sargent and Paul Blumenthal Report on Momentum Among Democrats to Reform the Electoral Count Act, and Uncertainty If Republicans Will Come Along

October 8, 2021, 8:39 amelection subversion risk, electoral collegeRick Hasen

Greg Sargent in WaPo and Paul Blumenthal in HuffPo.

On Luttig on Eastman and the Electoral Count Act

September 22, 2021, 7:09 amelectoral collegeDerek Muller

Michael Luttig, a former federal judge, offers this thread that Rick helpfully links to. Luttig claims he advised that “the VP himself could [not] decide that the Electoral Count Act of 1887 is unconstitutional and accordingly submit the 2020… Continue reading

John Eastman Gives CNN Longer Six-Page Memo on How He Hoped to Help Mike Pence Steal the Election for Trump

September 21, 2021, 4:47 pmchicanery, election subversion risk, electoral collegeRick Hasen

You can find the memo here. I think it makes Eastman look even worse. MORE from Jonathan Adler: UPDATE: John Eastman has told CNN that the above-cited memo was merely a preliminary outline, and has provided CNN’s Jeremy Herb… Continue reading

Initial Reaction to Eastman Memo

September 21, 2021, 4:56 amelection subversion risk, electoral collegeNed Foley

My first thought on reading the Eastman memo revealed yesterday was that it could wait until I do the relevant work for a planned second edition of Ballot Battles before I reflect on it in earnest. But in light of… Continue reading

Rebutting some of the claims in the Eastman memo about Congress’s role in counting electoral votes

September 21, 2021, 4:48 amelectoral collegeDerek Muller

On November 29, 2000, the Select Joint Committee on the Manner of Appointment of Presidential Electors, a group convened by the Florida legislature, gathered. It was the second day of hearings about how to handle the presidential election dispute unfolding… Continue reading

“Memo shows Trump lawyer’s six-step plan for Pence to overturn the election”

September 20, 2021, 3:03 pmchicanery, electoral collegeRick Hasen

CNN: A conservative lawyer working with then-President Donald Trump’s legal team tried to convince then-Vice President Mike Pence that he could overturn the election results on January 6 when Congress counted the Electoral College votes by throwing out electors from… Continue reading

My New Draft Paper: “Identifying and Minimizing the Risk of Election Subversion and Stolen Elections in the Contemporary United States”

September 20, 2021, 7:52 amelection administration, election subversion risk, electoral college, fraudulent fraud squadRick Hasen

I have written this new academic draft, in connection with the virtual Election Subversion conference that we are holding at UCI Law’s Fair Elections and Free Speech Center, this Friday, September 24. Here is the paper’s abstract: The… Continue reading

Greg Sargent on Electoral Count Act Reform: “How to prevent the next Jan. 6, as revealed in an important new analysis”

August 30, 2021, 1:02 pmchicanery, election subversion risk, electoral collegeRick Hasen

WaPo column: We cannot say we weren’t warned.As the select committee examining the Jan. 6 violence ramps up, one of its lesser-known goals is to offer “recommendations” to prevent a future effort to overthrow U.S. democracy through violence.As it… Continue reading

“Congress Has The Power To Prevent A Repeat Of January 6”

August 17, 2021, 2:55 pmelectoral collegeRick Hasen

Trevor Potter and Norm Ornstein at TPM Cafe: The barriers voters face before casting a ballot have rightly grabbed headlines recently. But there’s a way that tens of millions of Americans could be disenfranchised after voting in the next… Continue reading

Harvard Law and Policy Review releases symposium issue on the Electoral College

August 14, 2021, 6:00 amelectoral collegeDerek Muller

I’ll highlight some more academic work this weekend. Up first: It was a pleasure to participate in this terrific event with a fantastic lineup! Volume 15, Issue 1 of the Harvard Law & Policy Review is here. Lawrence Lessig,… Continue reading