McPherson v. Blacker
McPherson v. Blacker | |
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Court membership | |
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Case opinion | |
Majority | Fuller, joined by unanimous |
Laws applied | |
U.S. Const. art. II, § 1, cl. 2 U.S. Const. amend. XIV |
McPherson v. Blacker, 146 U.S. 1 (1892), was a
Impact in Bush v. Gore (2000)
The ability of states to determine the selection and apportionment of their electors was later reaffirmed in another Supreme Court case,
Impact in 2020 post-election legal disputes
The plenary power of State legislatures to appoint electors, as affirmed in McPherson, and as originally given in Article 2 of the U.S. Constitution, was suggested as a means to settle the 2020 presidential election. This power, it was also argued, has usually been delegated to the people's vote, but the power can be recovered if the existence of fraud can be proven and/or if the legislatures' election statutes have been violated or circumvented, rendering the election illegal. [9] [10]
On December 11, 2020, the Supreme Court denied the state of Texas's motion to file a bill of complaint against four states, Pennsylvania, Michigan, Wisconsin, and Georgia, that had awarded their electoral votes to President-elect Joe Biden.[11]
On December 5, Republican Speaker of the
Nothing in the Electors Clause permits a state legislature to enact a law "in defiance of provisions of [its] State's constitution." ... When this Court said that state legislatures "possess[] plenary authority," it was referring to a legislature's authority to choose a particular "manner" for selecting presidential electors: "by joint ballot," or by "concurrence of the two houses," or by "popular vote," whether by "general ticket" or by congressional "districts." McPherson v. Blacker, 146 U.S. 1, 25 (1892). As the Court has made clear, "[t]he legislative power is the supreme authority, except as limited by the constitution of the state." ... Taking a quote from McPherson out of context, Texas suggests that this plenary power permits a state legislature to nullify the will of the electorate and select its own electors ... There is no support in McPherson for such an extraordinarily antidemocratic proposition.[13]
References
- ^ JSTOR 1190592.
- ^ McPherson v. Blacker, 146 U.S. 1 (1892).
- ^ Zadrozny, John (January 1, 2003). "The Myth of Discretion: Why Presidential Electors Do Not Receive First Amendment Protection". CommLaw Conspectus. 11 (1): 165–184.
- ^ a b Bomboy, Scott (December 20, 2016). "Electoral College a rare topic of discussion at Supreme Court". National Constitution Center. Retrieved March 20, 2019.
- SSRN 1065421.
- ISBN 9781403973405.
- ^ Katyal, Neal Kumar (December 1, 2000). "Protecting and preserving Florida's process". CNN. Retrieved March 21, 2019.
- ISSN 0458-3035. Retrieved March 21, 2019.
- ^ Stern, Mark (March 13, 2020). "Trump Can't Cancel the Election. But States Could Do It for Him". Slate.com. Retrieved November 11, 2020.
- ^ "John Eastman Testimony During Georgia Senate Election Hearing". YouTube. Retrieved December 7, 2020.
- ^ "ORDER IN PENDING CASE 155, ORIG. TEXAS V. PENNSYLVANIA, ET AL" (PDF). www.supremecourt.gov. Retrieved December 12, 2020.
- ^ Bowers, Rusty (December 5, 2020). "Speaker Bowers addresses call for the Legislature to overturn 2020 certified election". Gila (AZ) Herald. Retrieved December 8, 2020.
- ^ Shapiro, Josh. "OPPOSITION TO MOTION FOR LEAVE TO FILE BILL OF COMPLAINT AND MOTION FOR PRELIMINARY INJUNCTION, TEMPROARY[sic] RESTRAINING ORDER, OR STAY" (PDF). Retrieved May 4, 2021.
External links
- Text of McPherson v. Blacker, 146 U.S. 1 (1892) is available from: CourtListener Justia Library of Congress