http://encyclopedia.federalism.org/index.php?title=Chiafalo_v._Washington_(2020)&feed=atom&action=historyChiafalo v. Washington (2020) - Revision history2024-03-28T15:50:52ZRevision history for this page on the wikiMediaWiki 1.29.1http://encyclopedia.federalism.org/index.php?title=Chiafalo_v._Washington_(2020)&diff=2856&oldid=prevAdmin at 23:19, 16 September 20212021-09-16T23:19:56Z<p></p>
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<td colspan='2' style="background-color: white; color:black; text-align: center;">Revision as of 23:19, 16 September 2021</td>
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<tr><td class='diff-marker'>−</td><td style="color:black; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #ffe49c; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div>In ''<del class="diffchange diffchange-inline">[[</del>Chiafalo v. Washington<del class="diffchange diffchange-inline">]]</del>'', 591 U.S. ___ (2020), the [[U.S. Supreme Court]] ruled unanimously that the [[U.S. Constitution]] permits a state to enforce a presidential elector’s pledge to support his or her party’s presidential nominee if the candidate wins the popular vote in the state. The ruling was the first time the Court upheld the authority of states to punish “faithless electors,” namely, electors who do not cast their [[Electoral College]] vote for their party’s nominee despite a pledge to do so. The Court had previously ruled in ''<del class="diffchange diffchange-inline">[[</del>Ray v. Blair<del class="diffchange diffchange-inline">]]</del>'', 343 U.S. 214 (1952), that states can permit political parties to require prospective electors to pledge to support their party’s candidate before being allowed to be an elector, but the case did not address enforcement.</div></td><td class='diff-marker'>+</td><td style="color:black; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #a3d3ff; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div>In ''Chiafalo v. Washington'', 591 U.S. ___ (2020), the [[U.S. Supreme Court]] ruled unanimously that the [[U.S. Constitution]] permits a state to enforce a presidential elector’s pledge to support his or her party’s presidential nominee if the candidate wins the popular vote in the state. The ruling was the first time the Court upheld the authority of states to punish “faithless electors,” namely, electors who do not cast their [[Electoral College]] vote for their party’s nominee despite a pledge to do so. The Court had previously ruled in ''Ray v. Blair'', 343 U.S. 214 (1952), that states can permit political parties to require prospective electors to pledge to support their party’s candidate before being allowed to be an elector, but the case did not address enforcement.</div></td></tr>
<tr><td class='diff-marker'> </td><td style="background-color: #f9f9f9; color: #333333; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #e6e6e6; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;"></td><td class='diff-marker'> </td><td style="background-color: #f9f9f9; color: #333333; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #e6e6e6; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;"></td></tr>
<tr><td class='diff-marker'> </td><td style="background-color: #f9f9f9; color: #333333; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #e6e6e6; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div>Relying on Alexander Hamilton’s argument in Federalist 68 and the Twelfth Amendment of 1804, some electors had argued they were constitutionally authorized to cast their electoral vote for the candidate of their own choice regardless of the voters’ choice. Across 23,507 electoral votes cast in 58 presidential elections, only 165 were not cast for a pledged candidate, although 43 percent of those were due to the death of a party’s nominee. Faithless electors have not changed the outcome of any presidential election.</div></td><td class='diff-marker'> </td><td style="background-color: #f9f9f9; color: #333333; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #e6e6e6; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div>Relying on Alexander Hamilton’s argument in Federalist 68 and the Twelfth Amendment of 1804, some electors had argued they were constitutionally authorized to cast their electoral vote for the candidate of their own choice regardless of the voters’ choice. Across 23,507 electoral votes cast in 58 presidential elections, only 165 were not cast for a pledged candidate, although 43 percent of those were due to the death of a party’s nominee. Faithless electors have not changed the outcome of any presidential election.</div></td></tr>
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<tr><td class='diff-marker'> </td><td style="background-color: #f9f9f9; color: #333333; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #e6e6e6; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div>In Chiafalo, four Democratic electors in Washington who were pledged to support Hillary Clinton in 2016 cast their electoral votes for other candidates despite Clinton’s win in the state. Under state law, each faithless elector was fined $1,000. Three of the electors contested the fines, thus ultimately resulting in the U.S. Supreme Court case. Relying on Article II, §1, which gives the states authority to appoint electors “in such Manner as the Legislature thereof may direct,” Associate Justice Elena Kagan opined for the Court: “The Constitution's text and the Nation's history both support allowing a State to enforce an elector's pledge to support his party's nominee--and the state voters' choice--for President.”</div></td><td class='diff-marker'> </td><td style="background-color: #f9f9f9; color: #333333; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #e6e6e6; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div>In Chiafalo, four Democratic electors in Washington who were pledged to support Hillary Clinton in 2016 cast their electoral votes for other candidates despite Clinton’s win in the state. Under state law, each faithless elector was fined $1,000. Three of the electors contested the fines, thus ultimately resulting in the U.S. Supreme Court case. Relying on Article II, §1, which gives the states authority to appoint electors “in such Manner as the Legislature thereof may direct,” Associate Justice Elena Kagan opined for the Court: “The Constitution's text and the Nation's history both support allowing a State to enforce an elector's pledge to support his party's nominee--and the state voters' choice--for President.”</div></td></tr>
<tr><td class='diff-marker'> </td><td style="background-color: #f9f9f9; color: #333333; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #e6e6e6; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;"></td><td class='diff-marker'> </td><td style="background-color: #f9f9f9; color: #333333; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #e6e6e6; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;"></td></tr>
<tr><td class='diff-marker'>−</td><td style="color:black; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #ffe49c; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div>In 2019, Washington enacted a new law allowing the state to remove a faithless elector from the Electoral College so as to appoint a new elector willing to support his or her party’s winning candidate. Such a law was at issue in a companion case to ''<del class="diffchange diffchange-inline">[[</del>Chiafalo, Colorado Department of State v. Baca<del class="diffchange diffchange-inline">]]</del>'', 591 U.S. ___ (2020), which, in a per curiam ruling, upheld Colorado’s law providing for the replacement of faithless electors with faithful electors.</div></td><td class='diff-marker'>+</td><td style="color:black; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #a3d3ff; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div>In 2019, Washington enacted a new law allowing the state to remove a faithless elector from the Electoral College so as to appoint a new elector willing to support his or her party’s winning candidate. Such a law was at issue in a companion case to ''Chiafalo, Colorado Department of State v. Baca'', 591 U.S. ___ (2020), which, in a per curiam ruling, upheld Colorado’s law providing for the replacement of faithless electors with faithful electors.</div></td></tr>
<tr><td class='diff-marker'> </td><td style="background-color: #f9f9f9; color: #333333; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #e6e6e6; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;"></td><td class='diff-marker'> </td><td style="background-color: #f9f9f9; color: #333333; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #e6e6e6; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;"></td></tr>
<tr><td class='diff-marker'> </td><td style="background-color: #f9f9f9; color: #333333; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #e6e6e6; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div>These decisions strengthened the hands of the state governments in the Electoral College and counteracted growing political efforts to convince electors to be faithless in order to prevent another election outcome like 2016 in which the winner of the [[Electoral College]] vote, Donald Trump, had lost the popular vote. Whether these rulings cut for or against the proposed National Popular Vote Interstate Compact is unclear.</div></td><td class='diff-marker'> </td><td style="background-color: #f9f9f9; color: #333333; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #e6e6e6; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div>These decisions strengthened the hands of the state governments in the Electoral College and counteracted growing political efforts to convince electors to be faithless in order to prevent another election outcome like 2016 in which the winner of the [[Electoral College]] vote, Donald Trump, had lost the popular vote. Whether these rulings cut for or against the proposed National Popular Vote Interstate Compact is unclear.</div></td></tr>
</table>Adminhttp://encyclopedia.federalism.org/index.php?title=Chiafalo_v._Washington_(2020)&diff=2855&oldid=prevAdmin at 23:18, 16 September 20212021-09-16T23:18:19Z<p></p>
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<td colspan='2' style="background-color: white; color:black; text-align: center;">← Older revision</td>
<td colspan='2' style="background-color: white; color:black; text-align: center;">Revision as of 23:18, 16 September 2021</td>
</tr><tr><td colspan="2" class="diff-lineno" id="mw-diff-left-l1" >Line 1:</td>
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<tr><td class='diff-marker'>−</td><td style="color:black; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #ffe49c; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div>In Chiafalo v. Washington, 591 U.S. ___ (2020), the U.S. Supreme Court ruled unanimously that the U.S. Constitution permits a state to enforce a presidential elector’s pledge to support his or her party’s presidential nominee if the candidate wins the popular vote in the state. The ruling was the first time the Court upheld the authority of states to punish “faithless electors,” namely, electors who do not cast their Electoral College vote for their party’s nominee despite a pledge to do so. The Court had previously ruled in Ray v. Blair, 343 U.S. 214 (1952), that states can permit political parties to require prospective electors to pledge to support their party’s candidate before being allowed to be an elector, but the case did not address enforcement.</div></td><td class='diff-marker'>+</td><td style="color:black; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #a3d3ff; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div>In <ins class="diffchange diffchange-inline">''[[</ins>Chiafalo v. Washington<ins class="diffchange diffchange-inline">]]''</ins>, 591 U.S. ___ (2020), the <ins class="diffchange diffchange-inline">[[</ins>U.S. Supreme Court<ins class="diffchange diffchange-inline">]] </ins>ruled unanimously that the <ins class="diffchange diffchange-inline">[[</ins>U.S. Constitution<ins class="diffchange diffchange-inline">]] </ins>permits a state to enforce a presidential elector’s pledge to support his or her party’s presidential nominee if the candidate wins the popular vote in the state. The ruling was the first time the Court upheld the authority of states to punish “faithless electors,” namely, electors who do not cast their <ins class="diffchange diffchange-inline">[[</ins>Electoral College<ins class="diffchange diffchange-inline">]] </ins>vote for their party’s nominee despite a pledge to do so. The Court had previously ruled in <ins class="diffchange diffchange-inline">''[[</ins>Ray v. Blair<ins class="diffchange diffchange-inline">]]''</ins>, 343 U.S. 214 (1952), that states can permit political parties to require prospective electors to pledge to support their party’s candidate before being allowed to be an elector, but the case did not address enforcement.</div></td></tr>
<tr><td class='diff-marker'> </td><td style="background-color: #f9f9f9; color: #333333; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #e6e6e6; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;"></td><td class='diff-marker'> </td><td style="background-color: #f9f9f9; color: #333333; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #e6e6e6; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;"></td></tr>
<tr><td class='diff-marker'> </td><td style="background-color: #f9f9f9; color: #333333; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #e6e6e6; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div>Relying on Alexander Hamilton’s argument in Federalist 68 and the Twelfth Amendment of 1804, some electors had argued they were constitutionally authorized to cast their electoral vote for the candidate of their own choice regardless of the voters’ choice. Across 23,507 electoral votes cast in 58 presidential elections, only 165 were not cast for a pledged candidate, although 43 percent of those were due to the death of a party’s nominee. Faithless electors have not changed the outcome of any presidential election.</div></td><td class='diff-marker'> </td><td style="background-color: #f9f9f9; color: #333333; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #e6e6e6; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div>Relying on Alexander Hamilton’s argument in Federalist 68 and the Twelfth Amendment of 1804, some electors had argued they were constitutionally authorized to cast their electoral vote for the candidate of their own choice regardless of the voters’ choice. Across 23,507 electoral votes cast in 58 presidential elections, only 165 were not cast for a pledged candidate, although 43 percent of those were due to the death of a party’s nominee. Faithless electors have not changed the outcome of any presidential election.</div></td></tr>
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<tr><td class='diff-marker'> </td><td style="background-color: #f9f9f9; color: #333333; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #e6e6e6; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div>In Chiafalo, four Democratic electors in Washington who were pledged to support Hillary Clinton in 2016 cast their electoral votes for other candidates despite Clinton’s win in the state. Under state law, each faithless elector was fined $1,000. Three of the electors contested the fines, thus ultimately resulting in the U.S. Supreme Court case. Relying on Article II, §1, which gives the states authority to appoint electors “in such Manner as the Legislature thereof may direct,” Associate Justice Elena Kagan opined for the Court: “The Constitution's text and the Nation's history both support allowing a State to enforce an elector's pledge to support his party's nominee--and the state voters' choice--for President.”</div></td><td class='diff-marker'> </td><td style="background-color: #f9f9f9; color: #333333; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #e6e6e6; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div>In Chiafalo, four Democratic electors in Washington who were pledged to support Hillary Clinton in 2016 cast their electoral votes for other candidates despite Clinton’s win in the state. Under state law, each faithless elector was fined $1,000. Three of the electors contested the fines, thus ultimately resulting in the U.S. Supreme Court case. Relying on Article II, §1, which gives the states authority to appoint electors “in such Manner as the Legislature thereof may direct,” Associate Justice Elena Kagan opined for the Court: “The Constitution's text and the Nation's history both support allowing a State to enforce an elector's pledge to support his party's nominee--and the state voters' choice--for President.”</div></td></tr>
<tr><td class='diff-marker'> </td><td style="background-color: #f9f9f9; color: #333333; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #e6e6e6; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;"></td><td class='diff-marker'> </td><td style="background-color: #f9f9f9; color: #333333; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #e6e6e6; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;"></td></tr>
<tr><td class='diff-marker'>−</td><td style="color:black; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #ffe49c; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div>In 2019, Washington enacted a new law allowing the state to remove a faithless elector from the Electoral College so as to appoint a new elector willing to support his or her party’s winning candidate. Such a law was at issue in a companion case to Chiafalo, Colorado Department of State v. Baca, 591 U.S. ___ (2020), which, in a per curiam ruling, upheld Colorado’s law providing for the replacement of faithless electors with faithful electors.</div></td><td class='diff-marker'>+</td><td style="color:black; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #a3d3ff; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div>In 2019, Washington enacted a new law allowing the state to remove a faithless elector from the Electoral College so as to appoint a new elector willing to support his or her party’s winning candidate. Such a law was at issue in a companion case to <ins class="diffchange diffchange-inline">''[[</ins>Chiafalo, Colorado Department of State v. Baca<ins class="diffchange diffchange-inline">]]''</ins>, 591 U.S. ___ (2020), which, in a per curiam ruling, upheld Colorado’s law providing for the replacement of faithless electors with faithful electors.</div></td></tr>
<tr><td class='diff-marker'> </td><td style="background-color: #f9f9f9; color: #333333; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #e6e6e6; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;"></td><td class='diff-marker'> </td><td style="background-color: #f9f9f9; color: #333333; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #e6e6e6; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;"></td></tr>
<tr><td class='diff-marker'>−</td><td style="color:black; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #ffe49c; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div>These decisions strengthened the hands of the state governments in the Electoral College and counteracted growing political efforts to convince electors to be faithless in order to prevent another election outcome like 2016 in which the winner of the Electoral College vote, Donald Trump, had lost the popular vote. Whether these rulings cut for or against the proposed National Popular Vote Interstate Compact is unclear.</div></td><td class='diff-marker'>+</td><td style="color:black; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #a3d3ff; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div>These decisions strengthened the hands of the state governments in the Electoral College and counteracted growing political efforts to convince electors to be faithless in order to prevent another election outcome like 2016 in which the winner of the <ins class="diffchange diffchange-inline">[[</ins>Electoral College<ins class="diffchange diffchange-inline">]] </ins>vote, Donald Trump, had lost the popular vote. Whether these rulings cut for or against the proposed National Popular Vote Interstate Compact is unclear.</div></td></tr>
<tr><td class='diff-marker'> </td><td style="background-color: #f9f9f9; color: #333333; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #e6e6e6; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;"></td><td class='diff-marker'> </td><td style="background-color: #f9f9f9; color: #333333; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #e6e6e6; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;"></td></tr>
<tr><td class='diff-marker'> </td><td style="background-color: #f9f9f9; color: #333333; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #e6e6e6; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div>{| class="wikitable"</div></td><td class='diff-marker'> </td><td style="background-color: #f9f9f9; color: #333333; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #e6e6e6; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div>{| class="wikitable"</div></td></tr>
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<tr><td class='diff-marker'> </td><td style="background-color: #f9f9f9; color: #333333; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #e6e6e6; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;"></td><td class='diff-marker'> </td><td style="background-color: #f9f9f9; color: #333333; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #e6e6e6; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;"></td></tr>
<tr><td class='diff-marker'> </td><td style="background-color: #f9f9f9; color: #333333; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #e6e6e6; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div>Last updated: August 2021</div></td><td class='diff-marker'> </td><td style="background-color: #f9f9f9; color: #333333; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #e6e6e6; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div>Last updated: August 2021</div></td></tr>
<tr><td colspan="2"> </td><td class='diff-marker'>+</td><td style="color:black; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #a3d3ff; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div><ins style="font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none;"></ins></div></td></tr>
<tr><td colspan="2"> </td><td class='diff-marker'>+</td><td style="color:black; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #a3d3ff; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div><ins style="font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none;">SEE ALSO: [[Electoral College]]</ins></div></td></tr>
</table>Adminhttp://encyclopedia.federalism.org/index.php?title=Chiafalo_v._Washington_(2020)&diff=2846&oldid=prevAdmin: Created page with "In Chiafalo v. Washington, 591 U.S. ___ (2020), the U.S. Supreme Court ruled unanimously that the U.S. Constitution permits a state to enforce a presidential elector’s pledg..."2021-09-16T22:46:22Z<p>Created page with "In Chiafalo v. Washington, 591 U.S. ___ (2020), the U.S. Supreme Court ruled unanimously that the U.S. Constitution permits a state to enforce a presidential elector’s pledg..."</p>
<p><b>New page</b></p><div>In Chiafalo v. Washington, 591 U.S. ___ (2020), the U.S. Supreme Court ruled unanimously that the U.S. Constitution permits a state to enforce a presidential elector’s pledge to support his or her party’s presidential nominee if the candidate wins the popular vote in the state. The ruling was the first time the Court upheld the authority of states to punish “faithless electors,” namely, electors who do not cast their Electoral College vote for their party’s nominee despite a pledge to do so. The Court had previously ruled in Ray v. Blair, 343 U.S. 214 (1952), that states can permit political parties to require prospective electors to pledge to support their party’s candidate before being allowed to be an elector, but the case did not address enforcement.<br />
<br />
Relying on Alexander Hamilton’s argument in Federalist 68 and the Twelfth Amendment of 1804, some electors had argued they were constitutionally authorized to cast their electoral vote for the candidate of their own choice regardless of the voters’ choice. Across 23,507 electoral votes cast in 58 presidential elections, only 165 were not cast for a pledged candidate, although 43 percent of those were due to the death of a party’s nominee. Faithless electors have not changed the outcome of any presidential election.<br />
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In Chiafalo, four Democratic electors in Washington who were pledged to support Hillary Clinton in 2016 cast their electoral votes for other candidates despite Clinton’s win in the state. Under state law, each faithless elector was fined $1,000. Three of the electors contested the fines, thus ultimately resulting in the U.S. Supreme Court case. Relying on Article II, §1, which gives the states authority to appoint electors “in such Manner as the Legislature thereof may direct,” Associate Justice Elena Kagan opined for the Court: “The Constitution's text and the Nation's history both support allowing a State to enforce an elector's pledge to support his party's nominee--and the state voters' choice--for President.”<br />
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In 2019, Washington enacted a new law allowing the state to remove a faithless elector from the Electoral College so as to appoint a new elector willing to support his or her party’s winning candidate. Such a law was at issue in a companion case to Chiafalo, Colorado Department of State v. Baca, 591 U.S. ___ (2020), which, in a per curiam ruling, upheld Colorado’s law providing for the replacement of faithless electors with faithful electors.<br />
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These decisions strengthened the hands of the state governments in the Electoral College and counteracted growing political efforts to convince electors to be faithless in order to prevent another election outcome like 2016 in which the winner of the Electoral College vote, Donald Trump, had lost the popular vote. Whether these rulings cut for or against the proposed National Popular Vote Interstate Compact is unclear.<br />
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| '''BIBLIOGRAPHY:''' Gabrielle Engel, “Power to the People: The Supreme Court’s Confirmation of State Power in the Wake of Faithless Electors,” University of Miami Law Review 75:2 (Winter 2021): 620-659 and Note, “Article II--Electoral College--Faithless Electors-Chiafalo v. Washington,” Harvard Law Review 134:1 (November 2020): 420-429.<br />
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==== John Kincaid ====<br />
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Last updated: August 2021</div>Admin