This year's midterm elections ended with a sigh of relief for defenders of democracy. There seems to have been no violence and relatively few races that were challenged by the losers. Extremism fared poorly, but a significant number of election deniers did win seats in the House of Representatives, and states are still chipping away at voting rights. Donald Trump will continue to do everything he can to undermine faith in the process.
Judge Luttig, you told our writer Jane Mayer, that you signed on as co-counsel because you regard Moore v. Harper as without question, the most significant case in the history of our nation for American democracy. What exactly is this case, and why is it as you put it legally the whole ballgame?The reason that Moore v. Harper is the most important case since the founding for American democracy is this.
Richard said,"You don't know, do you?" I said,"No." He said,"Well, John is advising the President and the Vice President, that the Vice President has the authority to overturn the election by rejecting state elector's votes from some of the swing states, and/or delay the counting of the vote on January 6th in order to give swing states opportunities to submit alternative electoral slates.
Then the next morning, the phone rang, and it was Richard Cullen, this is the morning of January 5th. He calls and he says,"Judge, what are you doing?" I said,"I'm just having my coffee." He says,"Look, we have to do something immediately." I said,"Well, what do you mean?" He said,"The Vice President is meeting for lunch with the President to tell him that he's not going to yield to the President's demands the next day.