My hot historical take is that the truly dangerous electoral "road map" is not Trump's from 2020.
It's Madison's from 1787.

The Electoral College is a more inevitable danger to democracy. It has invited partisan disenfranchising litigation long before 2020, and it will again.
By "hot," I mean "old."
And ironic for Madison:
The electoral college will always turn a national election into a battle over a few swing states, localizing a heated factional democracy.

But Madison in Federalist No. 10 argued for a national republic to diffuse such heat.
3/ The irony of Federalist No. 10:

Yes, the republic would be huge, but none of its officers would be elected *nationally.*
The Electoral College was a localist twist.
The only truly national institution would be the Supreme Court, the unelected "least dangerous branch."
4/ Thus, the Electoral College by design avoided a national vote and thwarted the idea in Madison's Federalist No. 10.
Instead of diffusing factionalism, the Electoral College concentrates the worst factional/partisan fights into 3 or 4 states.
It has before.
It will again.

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More from @jedshug

25 Nov
Pardon thread:
I've seen many people, including legal experts, claim that accepting a pardon means admitting guilt.
This simply is not the American practice.

Here is a thread on Burdick dicta and pardons for innocent people (DNA exonerations, etc.) 1/
2/
See @ProfBrianKalt's op-ed explaining the oft-cited case Burdick (1915) as dicta:
"Burdick was about a different issue: the ability to turn down a pardon. The language about imputing and confessing guilt was just an aside — what lawyers call dicta..."
washingtonpost.com/outlook/five-m…
3/ "The court meant that, as a practical matter, because pardons make people look guilty, a recipient might not want to accept one. But pardons have no formal, legal effect of declaring guilt." - @ProfBrianKalt
Read 7 tweets
21 Nov
I’ve seen enough.
We have a new realigned two-party system:

The Democratic Party and QAnon.
In all historical seriousness, we have had massive party disruptions by conspiracy theories in America, some legit, some insane:
The Anti-Masons
The Know-Nothings American Party
The Republicans (anti-slave power conspiracy - legit!)
KKK surge 1920s...
I was listening to a CBC podcast on the “Satanic Panic” of the 1980s: mass delusions about Day Care ritual sexual child abuse, in reaction to working mothers, the sexual revolution, suburbanization, and cultural change.

We are experiencing an even more severe reaction today.
Read 6 tweets
19 Nov
I understand why people are anxious. But Biden will be president on January 20th.

Any worst-case scenario falls short.
The conservative Justices are not insane, nor are they bad at math.
They already have a 6-3 arch-conservative majority locked it. Why burn it down now?
1/
2/ Let’s start with one worst-case scenario: Non-certification.
Even if Trump blocks the certification of ALL five close states, Biden still have a lead of 233-232 among appointed electors, and wins the electoral college under the 12th Amendment:
3/ Let me add that this isn't going to happen. Michigan has a Democrat as Sec of State (see below) and is going to certify its electors. So will the other states...
But let's play this out anyway...
Read 14 tweets
16 Nov
So there was indeed election fraud in Georgia...
@LindseyGrahamSC, call your lawyer.
@LindseyGrahamSC also asked whether Raffensperger had the power to toss all mail ballots in counties found to have higher rates of nonmatching signatures, Raffensperger (Republican Secretary of State) said.”
Lordy, if there are tapes...
3/ @washingtonpost:
Raffspenger said he was stunned Graham seemed to suggest he find a way to toss legally cast ballots. Absent court orders, Raffensperger doesn’t have the power to do what Graham suggested.
“It sure looked like he was wanting to go down that road,” he said.
Read 4 tweets
10 Nov
Threading on the ACA California v. Texas SCOTUS case.
The Justices asked Cal's Michael Mongan (defending the ACA) mostly about standing. Little on severability -- which is the threat to the whole ACA. Odd.

We won't get a sense of the Court until the challengers face questions.
Breyer was asking his first question, focusing on severability, and Roberts just cut him off and called on Alito (who has less seniority). This is very weird. Probably a technical glitch, but not a good look.
Breyer was actually asking a tough question for the ACA on non-severability:
"ACA supporters told us that the individual mandate was necessary for the entire ACA balance of costs. Isn't that a relevant fact for interpreting the statute?"
I hope he gives Verrilli a chance.
Read 13 tweets
6 Nov
Philadelphia just released a new batch of absentee votes:
Out of 5799 ballots:
5073 Biden (87%)
726 Trump (13%)
Trump's lead is down to 18,229.

There are more than 53,000 Philly ballots still to count.

At this consistent rate, Philly alone will give Biden a 20,000 lead.
Georgia:
Clayton County just released 268 ballots:
249 for Biden (93%)
**19** for Trump (7%)
Trump's lead is down to **1,479**

And there are a lot of Biden net votes left in Atlanta and Savannah.
Clayton just reported 816 ballots:
709 for Biden (87%)
107 for Trump (13%)
602 net Biden... with more to come soon.

Trump's Georgia lead is down to **665** votes.
Kornacki: "We are maybe one more batch away from Biden taking the lead in Georgia."
Read 4 tweets

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