Donald Trump’s efforts to overturn the results of the 2020 presidential election not only failed, but some of them also rested on a misreading of the U.S. Constitution, as our new analysis argues. The relevant constitutional provision dates back to just after the Civil War, and contemporaries recognized it as a key protection of American democracy.
In November 2020, as it became clear that Trump had lost the popular vote and would lose the Electoral College, Trump and his supporters mounted a pressure campaign to convince legislatures in several states whose citizens voted for Joe Biden to appoint electors who would support Trump’s reelection in the Electoral College votes.
Trump and his allies contacted Republican lawmakers in Michigan, Georgia and Pennsylvania to induce the state legislatures to overturn the results of the popular election. Ginni Thomas, the wife of Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas, emailed GOP legislators in Arizona, encouraging them to “ensure that a clean slate of Electors is chosen.”
These efforts were relying on a provision of the Constitution, in Article II, Section 1, that states, “Each State shall appoint, in such Manner as the Legislature thereof may direct, a Number of Electors.” Trump and his supporters wanted state lawmakers to discard their citizens’ votes and simply appoint electors who would back Trump’s reelection bid.
But they were wrong. There was a safeguard already in place – and it remains today, defending against this approach being used to subvert the 2024 presidential election.
An effort to protect voters’ power
Donald Trump’s efforts to overturn the results of the 2020 presidential election not only failed, but some of them also rested on a misreading of the U.S. Constitution, as our new analysis argues. The relevant constitutional provision dates back to just after the Civil War, and contemporaries recognized it as a key protection of American democracy.
In November 2020, as it became clear that Trump had lost the popular vote and would lose the Electoral College, Trump and his supporters mounted a pressure campaign to convince legislatures in several states whose citizens voted for Joe Biden to appoint electors who would support Trump’s reelection in the Electoral College votes.
Trump and his allies contacted Republican lawmakers in Michigan, Georgia and Pennsylvania to induce the state legislatures to overturn the results of the popular election. Ginni Thomas, the wife of Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas, emailed GOP legislators in Arizona, encouraging them to “ensure that a clean slate of Electors is chosen.”
These efforts were relying on a provision of the Constitution, in Article II, Section 1, that states, “Each State shall appoint, in such Manner as the Legislature thereof may direct, a Number of Electors.” Trump and his supporters wanted state lawmakers to discard their citizens’ votes and simply appoint electors who would back Trump’s reelection bid.
North Carolina Republican gubernatorial nominee Mark Robinson has vowed to remain in his race despite a CNN media report about inflammatory comments it says he made online
North Carolina Republican nominee for governor Mark Robinson speaks with CNN's Andrew Kaczynski and denies making a series of inflammatory comments on a pornography website’s message board more than a decade ago, as revealed in a CNN report.