The 12th Amendment - More chaos to come? (1 Viewer)

[John Maddens Lunchbox]

With the President leading disputes about the election results and litigation likely to carry on for awhile, I’ve heard if any state cannot report in time the 12th amendment comes into play.

This may or may not be a deliberate strategy by the President, but with chaos predicted for awhile what are the ramifications of the 12th amendment being utilized?

i’m not smart or studious enough to understand the ins and outs here, so hope someone who is can explain it to me like i’m (insert board acceptable insult)

This article below by buzzfeed was written a few weeks before the election. Any constitutional types want to weigh in? @Yankee23Fan 

On the other hand I’ve read that if Trump uses this strategy he will get his buttocks handed to him on a platter. https://mobile.twitter.com/RoguePOTUSStaff/status/1324166377142423553

https://www.buzzfeednews.com/article/paulmcleod/2020-election-12th-amendment-electoral-college-nightmare

WASHINGTON — The 2020 presidential election could be so tight, and the result so hotly contested, that the losing party refuses to concede, triggering a chaotic free-for-all in which Congress, the courts, and, in the most extreme case, the military could determine the winner.

It may sound far-fetched, but the Constitution has major gaps when it comes to deciding a contested presidential race. The peaceful transition of power after an election has never rested so much on a rigid set of rules but on politicians being willing to admit they lost. President Donald Trump, however, has refused to commit to giving up the White House if former vice president Joe Biden wins.

Trump is also spouting wild, unsupported conspiracy theories about how the election is being rigged through mail-in ballots at a time when the failed response to the COVID-19 pandemic is driving tens of millions of people to vote by mail. And he is calling on his supporters to show up at polling locations, raising fears of voter intimidation.

So what happens if Trump claims he was robbed? Discussions with constitutional experts reveal how a single governor’s decision could spiral into each side blocking the other from seizing the White House. It’s a scenario made possible by the Constitution’s 12th Amendment.

“We have an advantage if we go back to Congress,” Trump told his supporters at a rally in late September in Pennsylvania. And he’s right. The 12th Amendment paves the way for the possibility that a minority of Republicans in the House of Representatives could give the presidency to Trump, even if Biden wins the popular vote and Electoral College.

Such a sequence of events would be historically unprecedented and might never come to pass. But if both sides are truly willing to fight for the White House, then wild scenarios — like states being stripped of their congressional delegations or election results from two years ago being challenged — are suddenly on the table.

 

[Joe Summer]

I think it would only come into play if a state was involved in an extended recount.

I think.

I hope.

I mean, I guess it's possible that the Georgia legislature would just vote to appoint all of their electors to Trump. But that would be political suicide I'd think. I think. I hope.

 

[IvanKaramazov]

I think it would only come into play if a state was involved in an extended recount.

If only a presidential election had ever hinged on an extended statewide recount before -- then we would know whether to give credence to an unhinged doomsday warning or whether we just remain calm and let things sort themselves out.  Oh well.

 

[Yankee23Fan]

The 12th doesn't mechanically work that way as far as I know.  

And our system can handle resolutions to what will be frivolous lawsuits long before March. 

 

[Godsbrother]

Any action by any state legislature to disregard the popular vote of that state would be committing political suicide and risking civil unrest.   

 

[The Z Machine]

Any action by any state legislature to disregard the popular vote of that state would be committing political suicide and risking civil unrest.   

One would think... but I bet Mitch McConnell would try if he were in that situation. 

 

[Drunken Cowboy]

Any action by any state legislature to disregard the popular vote of that state would be committing political suicide and risking civil unrest.   

It isn't risking civil unrest. It would be causing civil unrest.