Andrew McCarthy of National Review Online takes a close look at the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision allowing states to take legal action against “faithless electors.”
Specifically, may a state enforce the pledge it compels electors to make to vote for the presidential candidate who wins the state’s popular vote? The Court’s holding that states have the power to do so was unanimous. Significantly, though, the Court was not of one mind about why.
The case is worth our attention because of what’s been going on under the radar.
Among the Left’s many transformative projects is the drive to have presidents elected by a national popular vote. The project, known as the National Popular Vote Interstate Compact, would effectively eliminate the Constitution’s Electoral College system. It would reduce the College to a nullity by requiring a state’s electors to vote for the candidate who wins the national popular vote — regardless of whether that candidate loses the state’s popular vote. As Hillary Clinton and Al Gore could tell you, that would radically change how presidents are elected, and ultimately how we are governed.
Conservatives should be unapologetic advocates for the Electoral College. In Ball of Collusion, I focused on President Trump’s against-all-odds 2016 victory. Mrs. Clinton earned nearly 3 million more popular votes nationally than he did — an impressive feat at first blush, but less so when one factors in that (a) the entire margin (and then some) is explained by California, which systematically depresses Republican turn-out and which she won by 4.3 million votes; and (b) like Trump, Clinton did not win a popular majority: More Americans voted against than for her. Trump won because of the Electoral College system. …
… Naturally, Democrats would prefer an electorate that reflects the sensibilities of Manhattan and San Francisco. The Constitution, by contrast, ensures one reflective of America, broadly.