Supreme Court justices warn that Electoral College cases could lead to ‘chaos’
Published Wed, May 13 202011:24 AM EDT
Tucker Higgins @in/tucker-higgins-5b162295/ @tuckerhiggins
CNBC.com
Key Points
-- Some of the justices of the Supreme Court warned on Wednesday that striking down state laws that require Electoral College voters to follow the will of their state’s popular vote could lead to “chaos” in future presidential elections.
-- The justices are hearing two cases brought by presidential electors in Colorado and Washington state who refused to back Hillary Clinton in 2016 despite her victories in those states.
-- Like most states, Colorado and Washington both require Electoral College voters to vote in line with the state popular vote.
Some of the justices of the Supreme Court warned on Wednesday that striking down state laws that require Electoral College voters to follow the will of their state’s popular vote could lead to “chaos” in future presidential elections.
The justices are hearing two cases brought by presidential electors in Colorado and Washington state who refused to back Hillary Clinton in 2016 despite her victories in those states. Like most states, Colorado and Washington both require Electoral College voters to vote in line with the state popular vote.
The question in the cases is whether Electoral College voters can be required under state law to vote for the candidate who wins the state popular vote. Lower courts in Colorado and Washington came down on opposite sides of the issue. In January, the top court agreed to weigh in.
A so-called “faithless elector” has never affected the outcome of a U.S. presidential election. Attorneys on both sides, however, have warned that it could happen in a close race.
Justice Samuel Alito and Brett Kavanaugh both pressed Larry Lessig, an attorney for the Washington electors, on the possibility that a win for his clients would unleash chaos.
“Do you deny that that is a good possibility?” Alito asked Lessig.
“I want to follow up on Justice Alito’s line of questioning and what I might call the avoid chaos line of judging,” Kavanaugh said later. Kavanaugh said that when a case is “a close call or tie-breaker,” the top court will generally avoid facilitating uncertainty.
“Just being realistic, judges are going to worry about chaos,” Kavanaugh said.
Lessig responded that he likelihood of chaos was “extremely small.”
“There’s chaos both ways,” Lessig said.
President Donald Trump will face reelection against apparent Democratic nominee Joe Biden in November. Decisions in the cases are expected over the summer.
The arguments, expected to last at least two hours, began at 10 a.m. ET. They are being conducted over the phone and streamed live to the public as a precaution against the spreading coronavirus.
cnbc.com |
