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A Republican former federal judge has penned an eye-opening op-ed in which he lays out the GOP's and former Republican President Donald Trump's plan to steal the 2024 presidential election.
Judge J. Michael Luttig, a staunch conservative appointed to the United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit by Republican President George H.W. Bush, says the scheme all comes down to Trump's claims of fraud and the events of January 6.
Luttig explains 2020 was a failed "dry run" for what the GOP and Trump plan to do in 2024—overturn the election if Trump or his pick for President do not win.
And this time, they've got nearly all the pieces in place to succeed.
A former judge appointed by President George H.W. Bush says Republicans' claims that the 2020 election was stolen aim to "distract attention from their far more ambitious objective" | Opinionhttps://cnn.it/3KmGTdR— CNN (@CNN) 1651070706
Luttig opened his op-ed with an observation all too many of us have nervously contemplated ourselves.
"Nearly a year and a half later, surprisingly few understand what January 6 was all about.
The true heart of the matter, Luttig says, is a little-known doctrine called the "independent state legislature," a part of the Elections and Electors Clauses of the Constitution, which grant state legislatures exclusive power over federal presidential elections.
Not even a state supreme court can have say over these issues according to this doctrine. But the federal Supreme Court could, were a case pertaining to these issues to end up before the court.
As Luttig explains, this was Trump and the GOP's plan for 2020—to claim pandemic-related changes to voting procedures violated the independent state legislature doctrine and have the resulting court cases land in the Supreme Court, where newly confirmed Justice Amy Coney Barrett would deliver favorable verdicts.
The gambit failed, however, in part because Coney Barrett was not yet sworn in, leading to 4-4 deadlock votes.
Such cases will meet entirely different circumstances in 2024, of course, because Coney Barrett is now officially on the bench. But even if the Court failed to deliver again, Trump's 2020 plan b is likely to succeed in 2024 as well.
Trump's team next moved to persuade certain states to empower alternate slates of electors to vote for Trump in the Electoral College instead of Democratic President Joe Biden, but they failed because state-level officials refused to cooperate.
But as Luttig explains, Republicans have since succeeded in electing a slew of Trump-aligned candidates in several key state positions directly impacting the operations of the 2024 election.
And with the 2022 midterms approaching, they are likely to gain Trump-aligned Republicans at the federal level as well, making more likely the success of Trump's third 2020 gambit—compelling Congress and then-Vice President Mike Pence to only count Trump-aligned votes at the January 6, 2021 certification of the Electoral College vote.
This failed because an insufficient number of Congress members were willing to follow the scheme and because Pence refused to comply, leading to the storming of the Capitol later that day.
Democratic Vice President Kamala Harris will preside over the certification in January of 2025, of course, but the Congress is likely to be far more Trump-friendly than 2021's.
So what can we do to safeguard the 2024 election?
Luttig explained our hope now rests in the present Congress acting before it's too late.
"Congress [must amend] the Electoral Count Act to constrain Congress' own power to reject state electoral votes and decide the presidency."
Luttig says this must be in tandem with federal legislation expressly limiting the Vice President's powers over elections to safeguard elections beyond 2024 as well.
On Twitter, many were sobered and alarmed by Luttig's explanation of the grave danger our democracy faces in 2024.
The \u201crah rah\u201d partisanship on Twitter has blinded most users to the danger we\u2019re in. We had one president who thought he was president of red states and now we have one who thinks he\u2019s president of 1991, blind to the threat. But the threat is real:https://www.cnn.com/2022/04/27/opinions/gop-blueprint-to-steal-the-2024-election-luttig/index.html\u00a0\u2026— Walter Shaub (@Walter Shaub) 1651154949
MUST READ: When staunchly conservative fmr 4th Circuit Court of Appeals judge Michael Luttig rings the alarm and lays out the step-by-step Republican plan to steal the presidential election in 2020 AND the plan for 2024, we should pay attention.https://www.cnn.com/2022/04/27/opinions/gop-blueprint-to-steal-the-2024-election-luttig/index.html\u00a0\u2026— Sherrilyn Ifill (@Sherrilyn Ifill) 1651057309
The decision voters make this fall will impact the future of our democracy.\n\nHelp us defend the right of every voter to choose their elected leaders. \n\nHelp us protect the voters\u2019 will against anyone who would try to overturn it.\n\nhttps://secure.actblue.com/donate/jbtwitter\u00a0\u2026https://www.cnn.com/2022/04/27/opinions/gop-blueprint-to-steal-the-2024-election-luttig/index.html\u00a0\u2026— Jocelyn Benson (@Jocelyn Benson) 1651244710
https://www.cnn.com/2022/04/27/opinions/gop-blueprint-to-steal-the-2024-election-luttig/index.html\u00a0\u2026\nThis article by a very conservative judge was mentioned by Rachel Maddow tonight. The grim scenario outlined by the judge of how Republicans are plotting to reject result of 2024 election if Trump loses should alarm anyone concerned about saving democracy— Charles Campisi (@Charles Campisi) 1651109314
If you read only one thing on protecting the next presidential election, make it this, by a legendarily conservative federal judge.https://www.cnn.com/2022/04/27/opinions/gop-blueprint-to-steal-the-2024-election-luttig/index.html\u00a0\u2026— Adav Noti (@Adav Noti) 1651154173
THE LAST PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION WAS A DRY RUN FOR THE NEXT. This is why the only election that matters now is 2022. The 2022 election is the election where we still get to vote for Democracy. VOTE FOR DEMOCRACY BY VOTING FOR DEMOCRATS IN 2022.https://www.cnn.com/2022/04/27/opinions/gop-blueprint-to-steal-the-2024-election-luttig/index.html\u00a0\u2026— Fred Guttenberg (@Fred Guttenberg) 1651058576
Today's reminder that the GOP now sees democracy and fair elections as annoying inconveniences and will lie, cheat and steal to get the power they cannot legitimately win, from a conservative judge who is no one's idea of a liberal:https://www.cnn.com/2022/04/27/opinions/gop-blueprint-to-steal-the-2024-election-luttig/index.html\u00a0\u2026— John Scalzi (@John Scalzi) 1651187705
Shortly before January 6th, former Judge Michael Luttig gave Mike Pence legal advice that may have changed the course of American history.\n\nNow he warns that Republicans plan to steal the 2024 election and explains how to stop them.https://www.cnn.com/2022/04/27/opinions/gop-blueprint-to-steal-the-2024-election-luttig/index.html\u00a0\u2026— Renato Mariotti (@Renato Mariotti) 1651066604
The 1/6 insurrection was never about the baseless allegations of voter fraud in 2020. \n\nIt\u2019s a dry run for the GQP to take over all branches of government by 2024.\n\nOpinion: The Republican blueprint to steal the 2024 electionhttps://www.cnn.com/2022/04/27/opinions/gop-blueprint-to-steal-the-2024-election-luttig/index.html\u00a0\u2026— Carlos E. Gates (@Carlos E. Gates) 1651063365
As we head toward the midterms and 2024, here's hoping our country takes Luttig's advice that "forewarned is to be forearmed."