'Black-letter law': Dem attorneys prep for 'lots of litigation' from Trump allies if Harris wins

04 Nov 2024, 16:21 by https://www.facebook.com/17108852506 · AlterNet

Vice President Kamala Harris with North Carolina Gov. Roy Cooper and FEMA Administrator Deanne Criswell in Charlotte, North Carolina on October 5, 2024 (Creative Commons)
Alex Henderson
November 04, 2024Election 2024

With Election Day 2024 only a day away, countless national and battleground state polls continue to show an incredibly close race.

According to a New York Times/Philadelphia Inquirer/Siena College poll released on November 3, Republican former President Donald Trump and Democratic Vice President Kamala Harris are tied in Pennsylvania — a crucial swing state that could decide the election. And they are also tied in national polls released by NBC News, the New York Post and Emerson College in early November.

The Harris campaign and the Democratic National Committee (DNC) have an army of attorneys on hand in case Harris wins the election but Trump and his MAGA allies refuse to accept the election results.

In an article published on November 4, the Chrisitan Science Monitor's Cameron Joseph details the steps Democratic attorneys are taking in preparation for that possibility.

New York University law professor Rick Pildes told the Monitor that if the election results are close but Harris wins, he expects "lots of litigation" and "various efforts to challenge the legitimacy of the outcome."

Pildes added, however, "I think there are many institutional, legal, and even political safeguards in place that should ensure that the lawful winner of the election actually becomes president."

According to Ned Foley, an election law expert at Ohio State University, the Electoral Count Reform Act has been strengthened — which would make it harder for Trump allies to push "alternate" electors like they did in 2020.

Foley told the Monitor, "The good news is that ECRA is a really big improvement. The whole approach of ECRA is to basically say that the rule of law controls the outcome, and that politicians can't subvert the outcome just because they don't like it."

Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger, a conservative Republican, told the Monitor that he is obligated to honor the election results in his state — whatever the outcome.

Raffensperger stressed, "At the end of the day, state law is very clear, and that cannot be violated. All elections must be certified. That's black-letter law, and everyone has to follow state law."

Read the Christian Science Monitor's full article at this link.