Delayed Election - the threat has begun

Govi

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What legal authority, either constitutional or statutory, does the US President have to postpone a presidential election? Trump has to act under colour of law, and William Barr's job is to provide that for him.

Upon what authority might Barr rely to justify the decision to postpone an election without the consent of Congress, and how would it be enforced?

ETA: After reading this, I don't see that he can -- how and when elections are arranged are the responsibility of Congress and the individual states. The President doesn't feature in it:

According to the text in your linked tweet, it only requires 17 (maybe 18, depending on rounding rules) states in the House to deny a quorum and make it constitutionally impossible for the House to elect a president, since 2/3 of the states are constitutionally required to form a quorum, in the event the Electoral College is unable to choose a president.
 

Innula Zenovka

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According to the text in your linked tweet, it only requires 17 (maybe 18, depending on rounding rules) states in the House to deny a quorum and make it constitutionally impossible for the House to elect a president, since 2/3 of the states are constitutionally required to form a quorum, in the event the Electoral College is unable to choose a president.
But that has nothing to do with the president's power, or lack of it, to postpone the November 3 elections. I agree there's all sorts of other shenanigans they can get up to, but postponing the election isn't a possibility.
 

Govi

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But that has nothing to do with the president's power, or lack of it, to postpone the November 3 elections. I agree there's all sorts of other shenanigans they can get up to, but postponing the election isn't a possibility.
You're quite correct. I'm sorry I veered off the course of your post taking the whole text of the tweet as something which could be discussed. There had been mention earlier in the thread of what happens if the ordinary course of electing a president is fouled up and the tweet discussed what happens when the election gets thrown into the House.
 

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Dear General Milley:

As chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, you are well aware of your duties in ordinary times: to serve as principal military advisor to the president of the United States, and to transmit the lawful orders of the president and Secretary of Defense to combatant commanders. In ordinary times, these duties are entirely consistent with your oath to “support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic…”

We do not live in ordinary times. The president of the United States is actively subverting our electoral system, threatening to remain in office in defiance of our Constitution. In a few months’ time, you may have to choose between defying a lawless president or betraying your Constitutional oath. We write to assist you in thinking clearly about that choice. If Donald Trump refuses to leave office at the expiration of his constitutional term, the United States military must remove him by force, and you must give that order.
HEAR HEAR!
 

Govi

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HEAR HEAR!
No! No no no no NO!

The military, on the day appointed in the Constitution, must instantly acknowledge their new Commander in Chief, the person whom the Electoral College chose. That is our system, that is our law. The military must never become king-makers. They are subservient to the civilian authority and when that authority duly transfers on January 20, 2021, they will be doing their Constitutional and sworn duty to obey and defend our Constitution by accepting orders only from the new President.
 

Innula Zenovka

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No! No no no no NO!

The military, on the day appointed in the Constitution, must instantly acknowledge their new Commander in Chief, the person whom the Electoral College chose. That is our system, that is our law. The military must never become king-makers. They are subservient to the civilian authority and when that authority duly transfers on January 20, 2021, they will be doing their Constitutional and sworn duty to obey and defend our Constitution by accepting orders only from the new President.
That's what the article is saying, though, I thought -- that even though Trump may well refuse to accept the election result, if Joe Biden is duly sworn in as President and Commander-in-Chief, then the military must take orders from him, not Trump, and be ready to escort Trump out of the White House if he won't leave voluntarily.
 

Govi

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That's what the article is saying, though, I thought -- that even though Trump may well refuse to accept the election result, if Joe Biden is duly sworn in as President and Commander-in-Chief, then the military must take orders from him, not Trump, and be ready to escort Trump out of the White House if he won't leave voluntarily.
If Donald Trump refuses to leave office at the expiration of his constitutional term, the United States military must remove him by force, and you must give that order.
This is the key phrasing to which I object and which is illegal. The military will have to wait until commanded by (future) President Biden to evict the illegal occupant of the White House. There's no decision except whether to obey the valid legal order of the Commander in Chief or not. It is not a decision for the military to make -- whether to evict Trump or not -- but for the future President.

There's similar phrasing elsewhere, too:

you may have to choose between defying a lawless president
When it comes to that point, Trump will not be the president, Biden will be the president (baring unforeseen and disastrous events). If Trump somehow legally wins 2020, in 2024 (if Trump has not died of apoplexy or COVID or Alzheimer's disease or ...) the military will probably have been so corrupted by Trump that who knows.
 
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The judge's order, in a high-profile case about vote-by-mail in the battleground state, essentially forces the Trump campaign to try to back up President Donald Trump's false claims about massive voter fraud in postal voting.
 

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"Unintended" consequences. sure...

Postmaster General Louis DeJoy acknowledged to United States Postal Service employees this week that recent procedural changes have had "unintended consequences," but described them as necessary.

"Unfortunately, this transformative initiative has had unintended consequences that impacted our overall service levels," DeJoy wrote in a memo sent this week and obtained by CNN.

"However, recent changes are not the only contributing factors. Over the years we have grown undisciplined in our mail and package processing schedules, causing an increase in delayed mail between processing facilities and delivery units."
I love that "Don't just blame me!" attitude.
 

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They are relentless.

 

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