Supreme Court Makes Major Change to Electoral College Just 120 Days from Election

In just about every election year, our nation is inundated with calls to reform, revise, or completely abolish the electoral college, often emanating from the side who has just suffered defeat.

That’s not to say that there aren’t valid concerns about the system, however.  As with any governmental practice, the bloat of bureaucracy is heavy within the system, and there are plenty of opportunities for conniving public servants to subvert the will of their constituents.  It doesn’t happen often, but, when it comes to eschewing the wishes of the American people once is one time too many.

Today, the Supreme Court made a major ruling that could prevent some of this malfeasance in the coming months.

The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday upheld state laws that remove or fine Electoral College delegates who refuse to cast their votes for the presidential candidate they were pledged to support. The vote was unanimous.

“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,” Justice Elena Kagan wrote for the court. Laws that remove or penalize delegates reflect “a longstanding tradition in which electors are not free agents; they are to vote for the candidate whom the State’s voters have chosen.”

The concept here is that the removal of “faithless electors” will put more power into the hands of the American voter, which seems to square up nicely with what the framers of our Constitution had in mind.