Thomas staked out his Trumpian position in a dissent from the Supreme Court’s dismissal of two election-related lawsuits in Pennsylvania. Republicans in Pennsylvania had asked the Supreme Court to answer a recurring question that plagued the 2020 election: Does the United States Constitution permit the members of a state legislature, acting as a gang of elected lawmakers unconstrained by the state’s own constitution, to seize control of a presidential election by naming their own slate of electors to replace those chosen by the votes of the state’s people?
The answer to that crucial question depends in part on parsing Article II of the U.S. Constitution, which establishes that presidential electors are appointed “in such Manner as the Legislature [of the State] may direct.” Some maintain that, by vesting the power to choose electors in state “Legislature[s],” the Constitution has designated a free-range bunch of state representatives to meet wherever they like and do w
AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite, File
The Supreme Court denied review today to two cases filed in connection with the Presidential vote in Pennsylvania.
The first case was filed by both the Trump Campaign and the Republican Party of Pennsylvania, challenging the decision by the Pennsylvania Supreme Court that made changes to the election laws in Pennsylvania. The most controversial change allowed the counting of mailed-in ballots received up to three days after election day the election statute has a cut-off of 8:00 pm on election night so long as the ballot envelope was postmarked on or before election day. Ballot envelopes with no postmark, or with an illegible postmark, were presumed to have been mailed prior to election day.
Screenshot taken from Facebook State Sen. Doug Mastriano (left) and Rick Saccone (right) In March 2018, former state Rep. Rick Saccone (R-Elizabeth) lost a special election to Conor Lamb (D-Mt. Lebanon) in a district that President Donald Trump won in 2016 by about 20 points. It was one of the biggest upsets in the Trump-era, and some Republicans blamed Saccone for a weak campaign that allowed an insurgent Lamb to secure a narrow victory. Since then, Saccone’s political career has tumbled and basically fallen apart. He ran unsuccessfully in the Republican primary election later in 2018 for another congressional seat, then started a blog called “Veritas 007” that trafficked in conspiracy theories. He regularly attempted, unsuccessfully, to get Trump’s attention on social media by tagging Trump, seemingly to have the pre
A statement sent last Thursday from eight Pennsylvania Republican Congressmen contends that the state s certification process was erroneous and that the justice system failed to seek the truth. Until these unlawful practices are acknowledged and corrected, we cannot agree to support electors chosen based upon an inaccurate total vote count. The voters of Pennsylvania deserve integrity in the election process and equal protection under the law, the statement reads. This very unfortunate, volatile, and distressing situation is due to the lack of respect and regard for the law and the U.S. Constitution as well as the Pennsylvania State Constitution, the statement continues. Additionally, the failure of Pennsylvania s justice system to seek the truth, rather than stay silent, allowed these irregular, unlawful actions to create a high level of mistrust in the process as well as a potentially flawed outcome.