You wrote:
“If the court refuses, then isn’t it in the legislature’s constitutional power to declare a one-time slate of electors because the governor and the court created unconstitutional chaos in the system and the legislature is obligated to step in and fix it?
Of course not. That’s not the way our system of checks and balances works.”
This is incorrect, the PA legislature can step in and appoint a slate of electors. This was just discussed on Mark Levin a couple of days ago, if you are interested, and the Trump administration is also discussing this with them. My understanding is that at this point, the GOP-controlled legislature is reluctant to do this, but if the cheating becomes too outrageous, there is a very real chance they will elect to do this, just as the Florida legislature was preparing to do when the S/C stepped in, in the +Bush/Gore hanging chad fiasco.
I know Levin is saying this but his job as a talk show host is to stir up publicity and conversation.
The PA legislature is 100% a creation of the PA constitution. It wouldn't exist or have any legitimacy outside of that constitution
If the PA constitution says there's a process for creating state laws, including election laws, there's no way the legislature can operate outside that process.
Think about it. Do you really think the framers wanted to give this power to the strongest faction of a state legislature regardless of the constitution that created it?
The US Constitution gives the state legislators the power to decide on electors but that's only because they're the representative of the state's people, and those people collectively approved that process when the election laws were passed.
The legislature can't just change the laws willy-nilly with no accountability.