Monday, December 28, 2020

It's for Mike Pence to Judge

 From American Thinker:

On January 6, a joint session of Congress will open with Vice President Pence presiding as president of the Senate.  His power will be plenary and unappealable.  You heard that right.  As president of the Senate, every objection comes directly to him, and he can rule any objection "out of order" or "denied."  His task will be to fulfill his oath of office to protect and defend the Constitution of the United States and to ensure that the laws be faithfully executed.  This is a high standard of performance, and V.P. Pence will have two choices.  He can roll over on "certified" electors, or he can uphold the law.

Article II, Section 1 of the Constitution gives state legislatures "plenary authority" as enunciated in Bush v. Gore.  This is key, since the counting of votes is discussed in Article II, the 12th Amendment, and 3 USC 15.  To this we must add the history of counting and objections recounted by Alexander Macris (here and here).  Put bluntly, it's as clear as mud.  Add to that the fact that the contested states of Arizona, Georgia, Michigan, New Mexico, Nevada, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin have sent dueling slates of electors to D.C.  This means that the V.P. has to decide how he will handle the situation when two sealed envelopes are handed to him from any of those states.

Macris points out that in 1800, even with constitutional deficiencies in Georgia, Thomas Jefferson blithely counted defective electoral votes from Georgia, effectively voting himself into the presidency.  This demonstrates that the president of the Senate is the final authority on any motions or objections during the vote-counting.  There is no appeal.  That doesn't mean there won't be any outrage.  Whatever Pence does, people will be angry.  But what does the law demand?

Seven contested states clearly violated their own laws.  Rather than list the facts, which have been detailed in multiple articles, we must consider the following:

An election is a process of counting votes for candidates. Only valid, lawful votes may be counted.  A valid lawful vote is:

  • Cast by an eligible, properly registered elector as prescribed by laws enacted by the state Legislature.
  • Cast in a timely manner, as prescribed by laws enacted by the state Legislature.
  • Cast in a proper form as prescribed by laws enacted by the state Legislature.

Any process that does not follow these rules is not an election.  Anything that proceeds from it cannot be regarded as having any lawful import.

Most commentators suggest that a process of collecting pieces of paper with marks on them is an election regardless of errors, omissions, and even deliberate malfeasance.  This is a mistake.  Imagine a golf tournament where every bad shot by one player gets a do-over, but the competing player has to follow USGA rules in detail.  One player gets to drop freely out of hazards, but the other has to tackle every embedded ball as it lies.  The result is a travesty.

The same thing applies to elections.  If there are a handful of improper votes, we can suggest that there was in fact an election, perhaps tainted, but the election wasn't materially harmed.  But when the people charged with managing the election decide to ignore the law, whatever process they supervise is not the process defined by the law.  Therefore, it is not an election. (Read more.)

 

From Newsmax:

Newly elected Congresswoman Lauren Boebert, R-Colo., said she will object to Electoral College results certification on Jan. 6. That’s the day the Electoral College results will be counted officially in a joint session of Congress.

"Guided by the US Constitution and my responsibility to my constituents, I will object to the Electoral College results on January 6th," wrote Boebert in a Twitter post Thursday per The Epoch Times.

After being accused on Twitter of taking a stance solely to make news and further her career, Boebert replied: "Newsflash: I'm not here to make a career for myself. I'm here to save our country from socialists."

Earlier this month, Boebert told The Epoch Times she supported the president’s legal efforts to overturn the 2020 election.

"This is a contested election," she said, "and I believe that President Trump should fight with everything that he has and use all of the authority that he has as the President of the United States to make sure that we have a free and fair election. We need to be looking into these allegations; we need to be taking them seriously." (Read more.)

 

From Team Candace Owens:

Pro-Trump attorney Sidney Powell recently released a massive 270 page document to Zenger News including affidavits, evidence and testimony from many witnesses and sources detailing alleged fraud in the 2020 election. Powell has been on the frontlines of fighting the alleged fraud in the 2020 election, bringing many serious accusations to the table. Zenger wrote, “Powell contends that documents in the binder prove direct foreign interference and fraud tainted the Nov. 3 presidential election, and that President Donald Trump was re-elected. The entire binder is reproduced here for exclusively.” (Read more.)
 

More HERE.

Share

1 comment:

May said...

It would take a very unusual person to do anything but the conventional thing which is to rubber stamp the Biden votes. I could totally see Flynn throwing out the questionable votes, if he were the VP, but it is hard for me to imagine Pence doing anything drastic. He is a career politician, and they rarely go against the grain like that.