That said, some conservatives have argued that the 12th Amendment gives the vice president unilateral authority to reject electors.
The language of that amendment “seems to envisage a single, continuous process in which the Vice President both opens and counts the votes,” wrote constitutional law scholars John Yoo and Robert Delahunty in the American Mind in October.
“The check on error or fraud in the count is that the Vice President’s activities are to be done publicly, ‘in the presence” of Congress,’” they added. “And if ‘counting’ the electors’ votes is the Vice President’s responsibility, then the inextricably intertwined responsibility for judging the validity of those votes must also be his.”
As originalists are we not supposed to follow the Constitution as written? Where in the 12th Amendment, or anywhere else, does it say that the Vice President can overrule the Electoral College and pitch some votes? Or is the 12th Amendment some sort of living document that has to be interpreted based on the times?