This is volume three in the series The Judge and the Creative Positivist.
The U.S. democracy will survive only if there is a peaceful transfer of power after the members of the Electoral College meet and cast their votes for the winner of the election. The election is a contest. Like all contests, it must result in a winner (unless there is a tie). If the winner of the election does not become the president, there will be no democracy and the election will become irrelevant.
This book looks at the aftermath of the 2020 election and the indictment of former President Donald Trump for four criminal offences following an attempt to prevent the peaceful transfer of power after he lost the election. If this effort had been successful, Joe Biden would not have become the President and Donald Trump would have remained in office.
Moskowitz explains with his typical clarity and precision the complexities of the POTUS election system and how it still has its roots in the decisions made by the Founding Fathers. The book is rich in academic research, but has the added advantage of being written by a law professional who witnessed the 2020 process and subsequent events close-up:

[extract begins]

2.6 The Pennsylvania experience

The official Pennsylvania Delegates (the electors for the Electoral College) for the Democratic Party convened in Harrisburg, the state capitol, on December 14, 2020. Harrisburg is a small city (49,247 residents) that is in the middle of the state. It is 200 miles from Pittsburg, the largest city to the west (301,296 population) and 106 miles from Philadelphia, the largest city to the east (1,782,000 population).
For the purpose of transparency, I should mention at this point that my wife, Marian D. Moskowitz, was one of the 20 Pennsylvania electors. My wife was also the chairwoman of the Board of Elections in Chester County during the 2020 election. Much of the information in this section comes from discussions with her.[1]
This was not a typical meeting of the Pennsylvania Electoral College, the type that usually occurred every four years. There are two dramatic differences between the 2020 meeting and all the prior meetings. The first variant is that this meeting occurred during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic. This resulted in a few changes, such as the elimination of much of the traditional ceremony. The second dramatic difference is that this meeting occurred during then-President Donald J. Trump’s attack on the electoral system itself.
The meeting opened with this declaration: “Today you will follow the tradition of the first Electoral College that convened in Pennsylvania 231 years ago and cast your votes based on the outcome of that election to carry out the will of the voters of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania.” The outcome of the election in Pennsylvania was not in doubt because Biden had received 80,000 more votes than Trump.
Given the stridency of the opposition to the traditional procedure for electing the president and the peaceful transfer of power, there was great concern about potential efforts to prevent this meeting in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania on December 14 from occurring. The delegates were not told where the meeting would be and only told where to park their cars, and not to disclose the location of the parking garage to anyone. The delegates did not know that, while they were meeting, there was another meeting of “delegates” also occurring in Harrisburg. This group of alternate electors was also meeting at an unannounced location...

[extract ends]

This book will be useful for students, tutors and researchers. It will also provide accurate, considered context for journalists, historians and anyone interested in the legal proceedings that are only just beginning... It includes analysis of and research into events as recent as August 2023, such as the Georgia indictment.

Sign up now to get the most out of Books2Read

Discover something great at Books2Read.

Thanks for signing up for Books2Read notifications!