Wyantry Loc: SW Colorado

What we are looking at, in the Eastman Memo, is a legalistic “work-around” to hypothesize how an otherwise normal e******n process—certifying the E*******l College V**es—could, by a quasi-legal process, deny the v**e of the e*******l college and subvert the certification process.
My comment are in slash-delineated // xyz etc. \\ markers.

“The Memo”
PRIVILEGED AND CONFIDENTIAL. J****** 6 scenario

“[Seven] states have t***smitted dual slates of e*****rs to the President of the Senate.

“The 12th Amendment merely provides that “the President of the Senate shall, in the presence of the Senate and House of Representatives, open all the certificates and the v**es shall then be counted.” There is very solid legal authority, and historical precedent, for the view that the President of the Senate does the counting, including the resolution of disputed e*******l v**es (as Adams and Jefferson did while Vice President, regarding their own e******n as President), and all the Members of Congress can do is watch.”

// Under the Constitution, the Vice President serves as the President of the Senate and presides over the Senate's daily proceedings. https://www.senate.gov › Index What is not as clear is whether the Senate President has the authority to resolve disputes unilaterally. \\


“The E*******l Count Act, which is likely unconstitutional, provides:
// This is an opinion—unsubstantiated, upon which other later conclusions are predicated \\


NOTE: To analyze the all the legalese, it needs to be separated into more reasonable-sized chunks:

“If more than one return or paper purporting to be a return from a State shall have been received by the President of the Senate, those v**es, and those only, shall be counted which shall have been regularly given by the e*****rs who are shown by the determination mentioned in section 5 of this title to have been appointed,
// Only v**es given by authorized e*****rs shall be counted.\\

. . . if the determination in said section [5] provided for shall have been made, or by such successors or substitutes, in case of a vacancy in the board of e*****rs so ascertained, as have been appointed to fill such vacancy in the mode provided by the laws of the State;
// The State decides which e*****rs are valid. \\

. . . but in case there shall arise the question which of two or more of such State authorities determining what e*****rs have been appointed, is the lawful tribunal of such State, the v**es regularly given of those e*****rs, and those only,
// If there is a question of validity, ONLY the v**es of the e*****rs in question (and their v**es) shall be questioned\\

. . . of such State shall be counted whose title as e*****rs the two Houses, acting separately, shall concurrently decide is supported by the decision of such State so authorized by its law;
// The House AND Senate must concurrently, decide which individual e*****rs are valid according to the State-in-question’s law(s).\\

. . . and in such case of more than one return or paper purporting to be a return from a State, if there shall have been no such determination of the question in the State aforesaid, then those v**es, and those only, shall be counted which the two Houses shall concurrently decide were cast by lawful e*****rs appointed in accordance with the laws of the State,
// If there has been no resolution at the State level, only those v**es concurrently decided (by Senate (S) and House (H)) shall be counted—in accordance with the law(s) of the State in question.\\

. . . unless the two Houses, acting separately, shall concurrently decide such v**es not to be the lawful v**es of the legally appointed e*****rs of such State.
// Unless the S & H decides the v**es are not lawful.\\

. . . But if the two Houses shall disagree in respect of the counting of such v**es, then, and in that case, the v**es of the e*****rs whose appointment shall have been certified by the executive of the State, under the seal thereof, shall be counted.
// And if there is no agreement between the S & H, the State decides. \\

This is the piece that we believe is unconstitutional.
// OPINION! Not backed up by law or precedent.\\

It allows the two houses (S & H), “acting separately,” to decide the question, whereas the 12th Amendment provides only for a joint session.
// But there is nothing in the 12th Amendment that states the counting-procedure may not be adjourned, and the question(s) of e*****rs decided by each body (S & H).\\

. . . And if there is disagreement, under the Act the slate certified by the “executive” of the state is to be counted, regardless of the evidence that exists regarding the e******n, and regardless of whether there was ever fair review of what happened in the e******n, by judges and/or state legislatures.
//So if the S & H cannot determine the validity of specific e*****rs, the “executive” (Governor?) of the State in question decides; “. . . regardless of whether there was ever fair review of what happened in the e******n, by judges and/or state legislatures.”. \\

Now begins a proposal to collude with the Vice President (Pence) to overturn normal procedure:

“So here’s the scenario we propose:

1. “VP Pence, presiding over the joint session (or Senate Pro Tempore Grassley, if Pence recuses himself), begins to open and count the b****ts, starting with Alabama . . . “(without conceding that the procedure, specified by the E*******l Count Act, of going through the States alphabetically is required).”
// I do not understand what this statement represents—It is “specified by the E*******l Count Act” that “going through the States alphabetically is required”. This looks like pretty-plain english!\\

2. “When he gets to Arizona, he announces that he has multiple slates of e*****rs, and so is going to defer decision on that until finishing the other States. This would be the first break with the procedure set out in the Act.
[“ The FIRST change in legal procedure. AKA “the first step”. ]
>>What is not mentioned, is that he would have to do the same for each State in which there is some question.<<

3. “At the end, he announces that because of the ongoing disputes in the 7 States, there are no e*****rs that can be deemed validly appointed in those States. That means the total number of “e*****rs appointed” – the language of the 12th Amendment -- is 454.
//But this decision COMPLETELY NEGATES the procedures outlined above. At this point the validity of the e*****rs and their v**es requires validation and resolution by the S &H or the “executives” of the States.\\

“. . . This reading of the 12th Amendment has also been advanced by Harvard Law Professor Laurence Tribe.”
// An unattributed reference. \\

“A “majority of the e*****rs appointed” would therefore be 228. There are at this point 232 v**es for Trump, 222 v**es for Biden. Pence then gavels President Trump as re-elected.
//Again, this would be AGAINST THE RULES as defined, above.\\

4. “Howls, of course, from the Democrats, who now claim, contrary to Tribe’s prior position, that 270 is required. So Pence says, “fine. Pursuant to the 12th Amendment, no candidate has achieved the necessary majority.” That sends the matter to the House, where the “the v**es shall be taken by states, the representation from each state having one v**e . . . .”. Republicans currently control 26 of the state delegations, the bare majority needed to win that v**e. President Trump is re-elected there as well.
// Except this would have required active collusion by Pence-which DID NOT OCCUR.\\

5. “One last piece. Assuming the E*******l Count Act process is followed and, upon getting the objections to the Arizona slates, the two houses break into their separate chambers, we should not allow the E*******l Count Act constraint on debate to control.
//“we should not allow . . .” — just how is this “we” going to prevent it? Legally? What precedent? What ‘standing’? \\
“That would mean that a prior legislature was determining the rules of the present one — a constitutional no-no (as Tribe has forcefully argued). So someone – Ted Cruz, Rand Paul, etc. – should demand normal rules (which includes the filibuster). //More required collusion!\\.
“That creates a stalemate that would give the state legislatures more time to weigh in to formally support the alternate slate of e*****rs, if they had not already done so.
//Yet again, according to the rules as delineated above, this can not be!\\.

6. “The main thing here is that Pence should do this without asking for permission – either from a v**e of the joint session or from the Court. Let the other side challenge his actions in court, where Tribe . . . and others who would press a lawsuit would have their past position — that these are non-justiciable political questions — thrown back at them, to get the lawsuit dismissed. The fact is that the Constitution assigns this power to the Vice President as the ultimate arbiter.
// Again, this depends on the actions of a completely-coerced Pence. Luckily, Pence was more familiar with the precepts of the Constitution and the rule-of-law. He did not bow to the great pressure being exerted upon him by Trumpf, Trumpf’s legal-team nor Trumpf’s advisers, hangers-on and sycophants. \\

“We should take all of our actions with that in mind.”
// And we are so lucky this lawyer (liar)/legalistic OPINION was not actually carried out!\\
———————————————————————————————————————————————

Thus ends the “opinion piece” that some legal-whiner dreamed up as a last-ditch usurpation of the actual e******n process and verification of the E*******l College.

But what people have lost sight of, is that THIS SCENARIO (and that IS what it is) WAS NEVER CARRIED OUT !

And now, as the “recount” in Arizona has proven, Bide-one won by an even GREATER margin than postulated before! What will happen when-or-if any recounts in other States indicate the count is verified? At what point will the Repuke-licans and Trumpf finally admit that the e******n is OVER and that Mr. T. L O S T !

Kmgw9v Loc: Miami, Florida

Trump and the Republicans will never admit that Biden won and the e******n is a done deal. They are relying on the precedent that has been set to contest all future e******ns that don’t go their way.
Democracy is now forever tainted.