Government
Dec. 16, 2016
Faithless electors and the Constitution
To be sure, the 12th Amendment's text does not require electors to be faithful. But the assumption of its drafters and ratifiers was that the electors would be pledged to a particular candidate. By Michael D. Ramsey
Michael D. Ramsey
University of San Diego Law School
5998 Alcala Park
San Diego , CA 92110
Phone: (619) 260-6800
Stanford Univ Law School; Stanford CA
Michael D. Ramsey is director of international and comparative law programs at the University of San Diego School of Law. A version of this column was published by The Originalism Blog, the blog of the USD Center for the Study of Constitutional Originalism
This week eyes will be on the constitutional oddity called the Electoral College, whose members ("electors") actually determine the U.S. president. Each state selects a designated number of electors, who this year will cast ballots next Monday, Dec. 19. In modern practice, the electors undertake to cast their ballots for the candidate who won the popular vote in their respective states in the November election, in this case ma...
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