Guardian News published this video item, entitled “Ex-judge says Pence obeying Trump would have plunged US into constitutional crisis” – below is their description.
J Michael Luttig, a former federal judge and Republican, said during his testimony to the house select committee on the January 6 attack that Mike Pence could have plunged the US into a ‘revolution within a constitutional crisis’. If the vice president had followed the lead of Donald Trump and rejected the result of the 2020 election, Luttig warned, the US would have faced its first constitutional crisis ‘since the founding of the republic’. In 2021, Luttig outlined his view that the vice president had only the power to count the electoral college votes as they are cast, not to alter them or reject them.
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Guardian News YouTube Channel
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In This Story: Electoral College
The United States Electoral College is the group of presidential electors required by the Constitution to form every four years for the sole purpose of electing the president and vice president. Each state appoints electors equal in number to its congressional delegation. Federal office holders cannot be electors.
Of the current 538 electors, an absolute majority of 270 or more electoral votes is required to elect the president and vice president. If no candidate achieves an absolute majority there, a contingent election is held by the United States House of Representatives to elect the president, and by the United States Senate to elect the vice president.
The appropriateness of the Electoral College system is a matter of ongoing debate. Supporters argue that it is a fundamental component of American federalism by preserving the Constitutional role of the states in presidential elections. Candidates must appeal to a broad and diverse set of states rather than focusing only on the few U.S. cities with the highest population densities.
Critics argue that the Electoral College system is less democratic than a direct popular vote and that the College violates the democratic principle of “one person, one vote.” Thus, a president may be elected who did not win the national popular vote, as occurred in 1824, 1876, 1888, 2000, and 2016.
