Lawrence Lessig is a rebel.
The Harvard Law School professor has run for President on an anti-corruption platform. He has changed our intellectual property laws by creating the information sharing site, “Creative Commons.”
He’s given “TED“ talks. He writes for “The Atlantic,” and he has pushed for public funding of all elections.
Now the feisty Law School Professor is joining with a California law firm to offer legal support to electors who want to cast their votes for someone other than Donald Trump.
Announcing the Electors Trust: https://t.co/eYaG2OyWFa
— Lessig (@lessig) December 6, 2016
The group calls itself “The Electors Trust.” Their mission is to provide free legal counsel to electors who are from states where it is illegal to vote against the candidate who won the election.
More importantly, however, they also plan to provide an anonymous forum where electors can figure out if it even makes sense to cast a vote that is not for Trump. Before taking that risk, electors will need to know if they have gathered enough of a group to succeed.
Lessig told “POLITICO“:
“It makes no sense to be elector number five who comes out against Trump. But it might make sense to be elector 38.”
Recently the first Republican elector came forward to say that he can’t in good conscience vote for Donald Trump. The Texas elector wrote an op-ed about his feelings. Lessig and the other lawyers hope that this will signal a groundswell of opposition to the President-elect.
There are at least eight Democrats who have also vowed not to vote for Trump, and who have been encouraging their Republican counterparts to join them. They call themselves the “Hamilton Democrats.” They have said that they’ll vote instead for John Kasich, whom they consider to be a saner and safer alternative to the boorish billionaire.
The Hamilton Democrats, with the support of Lessig and his group, are hoping to convince at least 36 Republican electors to vote with them on December 19 when all Electoral College members will cast their votes.
If they could do that, if they could convince a total of 37 Republican Electors to support Kasich, then the Presidency would not go to Donald Trump.
Wouldn’t that be amazing?
Here is Lessig’s “TED” speech about corruption in government. It’s a little long, but its so well worth it.
Featured Image via YouTube screengrab.
