Facing the Eastman memo

Washington Examiner ^ | June 17, 2022 | Byron York

[T Ruth]

A lot of Republicans are ignoring the hearings being produced by the House Democrats' Jan. 6 committee. Maybe "ignoring" is too strong a word. They're just not paying attention — it's not on their radar screen. They know Democrats and many in the media are very excited about the hearings, but they also know — and they're right about this — that the hearings are a fundamentally political exercise. In the short run, Democrats hope the hearings will help revive their troubled political fortunes for this November's midterm elections. In the long run, Democrats hope the hearings will somehow disqualify former President Donald Trump from running again in 2024.

***

But still, there are things Republicans need to know. And one of those things is the story of conservative lawyer John Eastman. A professor at the Claremont Institute, Eastman came up with a plan in which then-Vice President Mike Pence, as presiding officer of the Senate, would throw out election results from some key states Trump had narrowly lost on Jan. 6, when Congress met to certify the vote of the Electoral College. Eastman's proposal had no merit. Had it been enacted, the plan, which Eastman personally presented to Trump and the then-president's top advisers, would have led to untold conflict in Congress, in Washington as a whole, and across the country. ...

***

So the existence of "dual slates" of electors was the foundation for Eastman's argument. If there were no "dual slates," then there was no case for Pence to interfere with the results.

But here's the problem: There were, in fact, no "dual slates" of electors. None. By Jan. 6, all the states had certified their results and chosen electors. It was done. Eastman's entire scheme was based on a false premise.

***

[T Ruth]

It is hard to get at the truth of this matter and I don't know if what York writes is accurate. To get under 300 words I had to cut a lot of significant assertions. But the whole article is worth reading.

[Alberta's Child]

I'm no fan of York, but on this one he's right. Under U.S. law and the 12th Amendment, there's no basis for Congress to reject any electoral votes unless two conditions are in place:

1. The electoral votes from one or more states are in dispute, AND ...

2. There are competing slates of electors certified by individuals or governing bodies (i.e., a legislature or a board of elections) from those states.

Condition #2 was not met in 2020 even though the disputes related to Condition #1 were legitimate.

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[who_would_fardels_bear]

1. P1: The Deep State doesn't have to play by the rules

2. P2: We the people do have to play by the rules

Therefore, we are screwed.

[kiryandil]

Good and clear post, but we're beginning to see indications that Republican legislatures were in on The Steal.

ACTIVELY colluding with the national Democrat apparatus at the national and state level. This would bring the question of outright fraud into my mind, and as we know, fraud vitiates everything [US Supreme Court].

I'll have to see if Byron York addresses this issue in his article.

[T Ruth]

Good and clear post, but we're beginning to see indications that Republican legislatures were in on The Steal.

ACTIVELY colluding with the national Democrat apparatus at the national and state level.

Good points. Especially Pennsylvania seems to be corrupt at all levels.

[one guy in new jersey]

What’s the harm in Pence focusing on four big swing states like PA, GA, MI, and WI, entertaining objections to the validity of the slate-selection election (election day) tallies based on the overwhelming stink of corruption arising from the city centers of those states, and send the envelopes back to those states demanding answers regarding what appear to be seemingly coordinated corruptions or irregularities common to all four states, such as unexplained cessation of vote counting when it appeared that Trump was winning, followed by middle-of-the-night resumption of counting resulting in people waking up to see that Biden had strangely seizing the lead in each such state literally overnight.

[ALPAPilot]

https://claremontreviewofbooks.com/constitutional-statesmanship/

[sauropod]

.

[Jane Long]

FTA...

Had it been enacted, the plan, which Eastman personally presented to Trump and the then-president’s top advisers, would have led to untold conflict in Congress, in Washington as a whole, and across the country. ...

---

So says York.

He has no clue what the ultimate outcome would’ve been, because it wasn’t even tried, or anything even questioned.

Has York missed out on the ‘conflict’ going on, NOW, in possessed DC, and, the country...as a result of the stolen election?

[Dave Wright]

Eastman knew quite well the alternate slate of electors was contingent on their acceptance by the Congress. The point of the Congressional debate on Jan 6 was to present evidence that would convince the Reps and Senators that the certified electors were the result of a corrupted election process and the totals they were based on could not be certified as true and accurate.

This has been confirmed in the “Rigged” and “2000 Mules” movies but there was considerable affidavit and video evidence at the time that the popular election in several states violated state law.

The process the Eastman tried to invoke was developed for just such a scenario when the popular vote was found to be uncertifiable.

Nancy Pelosi and others knew they could not allow this Constitutional process to go forward, so they intentionally conspired with government agent provocateurs ala the kidnapping of Whitmer in MI to provoke gullible groups like Proud Boys to enter the Capitol while failing to secure access to the building. Their objective was to shut down the debate. This was the real insurrection.

[semimojo]

…send the envelopes back to those states demanding answers regarding what appear to be seemingly coordinated corruptions or irregularities

Not the VP’s job. Per the Constitution the states are responsible for running their elections and answering those questions before certifying the electors.< p>It isn’t up to the feds to tell the states how to choose their electors.

[nathanbedford]

As you say, " the disputes related to Condition #1 were legitimate."

When Congressman and Senators raise objection, the process requires adjudication by Congress. The January 6 hearings are an attempt to criminalize that constitutional process.

Similarly, the hearings are an attempt to criminalize varying constitutional interpretations. We did not even criminalize secession after the Civil War. In the sense that secessionists were not prosecuted for treason.

[Chgogal]

Bookmark

[Wayne07]

“1. The electoral votes from one or more states are in dispute, AND “

No they weren’t. No state failed to certify their election. There was a process to stop certification, or for a state to decertify, but it never happened. Eastman is a kook.

[DSH]

What’s the harm in Pence focusing on four big swing states like PA, GA, MI, and WI, entertaining objections to the validity of the slate-selection election (election day) tallies based on the overwhelming stink of corruption arising from the city centers of those states, and send the envelopes back to those states demanding answers regarding what appear to be seemingly coordinated corruptions or irregularities common to all four states, such as unexplained cessation of vote counting when it appeared that Trump was winning, followed by middle-of-the-night resumption of counting resulting in people waking up to see that Biden had strangely seizing the lead in each such state literally overnight.

What's the harm? The harm is that neither Amendment XII nor the Electoral Count Act permits the Vice President to do what you propose. In other words, your scenario would constitute wholly lawless action on Pence's part.

Given his credentials, John Eastman is clearly a smart man. But he's also a self-evident crackpot.

[Alberta's Child]

Leave Pence out of this for the moment, since the VP absolutely does not have the authority to unilaterally decide that any certified electoral votes should be “sent back” to the states for clarification.

A more reasonable question would be whether or not CONGRESS has the authority to do such a thing, and even then I would have to believe it does not. The Constitution gives the states the power to certify their electors, and one consequence of this is that Congress really can’t compel any state to “verify” its electors and the process by which they were selected.

[Alberta's Child]

When Congressman and Senators raise objection, the process requires adjudication by Congress.

1. This is exactly what happened on January 6, 2021.

2. Having said that, I would point out that the process for adjudicating disputes as laid out in the Electoral Count Act of 1887 may not even stand up to constitutional scrutiny anyway.

[one guy in new jersey]

The Constitution does not forbid it, and the VP need not budge unless and until moved to do so.

The power to certify the tally is said to be merely ministerial, but I think that is only because egregious stank like we saw arise out of PA, MI, WI and GA in November, 2020 has never been matched with a sufficiently masculinr VP possessing righteous anger and a concomitant willingness to devise and take proportionate action to save our country, non-VP critics be damned.

[Alberta's Child]

My point was that — in theory — a state legislature could have convened at any time and approved an alternate slate of electors that would have been a legitimate point of contention for Congress.