No, Republicans Cannot Throw the Presidential Election into the House so that Trump Wins

NEIL H. BUCHANAN, MICHAEL C. DORF, LAURENCE TRIBE

UF Levin College of Law professor and economist Neil H. Buchanan, Cornell Law professor Michael C. Dorf, and Harvard Law professor emeritus Laurence H. Tribe explain why President Trump’s plan to win the election through a forced decision by the U.S. House of Representatives relies on an incorrect reading of the plain text of the Twelfth Amendment of the Constitution. The authors argue, even in a best-case scenario for Trump, in which the electoral votes of Pennsylvania are thrown out, Biden would still win with a majority of the resulting electoral votes and the House would simply not have the legal authority to vote on an election that had already been decided.

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Is Anyone Surprised That Our Norm-Busting President Ignored the Debate Rules?

MICHAEL C. DORF

Cornell law professor Michael C. Dorf comments on last night’s presidential debate between President Trump and former Vice President Biden. Dorf observes that Trump’s repeated violations of the agreed-upon rules of the debate; his outrageous substantive comments refusing to condemn white supremacy (and instead naming a specific white supremacist group) and declining to say he would accept the outcome of the election; and his callous response to Biden’s mention of Biden’s deceased son Beau should alert any yet unaware Americans to the fact that Trump has no sense of decency.

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Driscoll v. Stapleton

Citation: 2020 MT 247

Opinion Date: September 29, 2020

Judge: Beth Baker

Areas of Law: Election Law

The Supreme Court affirmed in part and vacated in part the district court order temporarily enjoining two Montana election laws, holding that the court erred by enjoining a ballot deadline. At issue was the district court's grant of a preliminary injunction regarding two election laws. One law required absentee ballots to be returned to local election officers no later than 8 p.m. on Election Day and the other law restricted the delivery of such ballots by persons other than the elector. The Supreme Court affirmed the preliminary injunction against the Ballot Interference Prevention Act (BIPA) and vacated the preliminary injunction against the election-day ballot-receipt deadline, holding (1) the district court did not manifestly abuse its discretion by granting the preliminary injunction against enforcement of BIPA; and (2) the district court erred by enjoining the ballot deadline.