“Delay the Election???”

Gene HealyAs if America 2020 didn ’t already haveenough of a  banana‐​republic feel to it, lately President Trump has seemed unusually focused on adding to the lingering pall of dysfunctional authoritarianism. First there was his attempt in Portland to use federal law enforcement as a sort of ad hocinternal security force. Now there ’s yesterday’s suggestion—on Twitter, naturally—that maybe we should “Delay the Election until people can properly, securely, and safely vote???” I recall a lot of paranoid chatter on the Right a few years back about President Obama building a“civilian national security force” andrefusing to leave office; over the last two weeks, Trump ’s flirted with both ideas more than Obama did over two terms. Because the phrasing ’s cute enough for plausible deniability, it’s not clear from Trump’s tweet if he’s suggesting he could postpone the November elections himself via executive edict. What is clear, as Walter Olsonnoted yesterday, is that the president has no such power. Under the Constitution,Congress sets the date for presidential elections; unless Congress  changesthe law, that election will be held this November 3rd, “whether the president likes it or not.”During similarly paranoid times 16  years ago, in the run‐​up to the first post‐​9/​11 presidential vote, the Congressional Research Service examined the question of“Executive Branch Power to Postpone Elections,” concluding there was ...

Source: Cato-at-liberty - July 31, 2020 Category: American Health Authors: Gene Healy Source Type: blogs