https://www.huffpost.com/entry/mike-johnson-2020-election-trump_n_65454357e4b01b258583b3c0#
The Supreme Court Shot Down Mike Johnson’s Argument Against Certifying The 2020 Election
Ahead of then-President Donald Trump’s effort to steal the 2020 election, Rep. Mike Johnson (R-La.) played the role of providing a constitutional rationale for Republican House members to justify voting against certifying the electors from a handful of states.
Johnson argued in favor of an idea known as the independent state legislature theory, which holds that the Constitution grants the power to set election rules to state legislatures alone. And since changes to election rules during the COVID-19 pandemic to ensure ballot access were made by various other state government officials and bodies, including state and federal courts, Johnson argued that those rules violated the Constitution and, therefore, the submission of electors under those rules was also unconstitutional.
“If you are convinced the Constitution was violated in the process, I am not sure how the set of electors could then be deemed acceptable,” Johnson told The New York Times in 2022.
The problem for Johnson ― who is now speaker of the House ― is that this theory is bunk. It is such bunk that the Supreme Court has ruled against it, in a 6-3 opinion written by conservative Chief Justice John Roberts and joined by Trump-appointed conservative Justices Brett Kavanaugh and Amy Coney Barrett, Johnson’s longtime friend.
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