"I bristle at the thought of the federal government imposing its will on any state for any reason."
Settled issue. 1865.
More recently, what was going on in Dec 2000 when the USSC decided the proper election mechanism, for Florida?
The federal government, in the election case, made Florida follow its own laws.
That doesn't in any way mean it was settled correctly.
Re: Bush v. Gore, The SCOTUS did not make Florida follow its own laws. The SCOTUS applied the equal protection clause of the US constitution to how the election was conducted and said not every Floridian's vote was counted the same way throughout the various counties of Florida as they relate to the vote count in the entire state of Florida.
A thousand amens. La. sure could have used a little "imposition" last week.
-Dan