Lawyers offer free support to electors who want to oppose Trump

Any member of the Electoral College who wants to vote against Donald Trump but would violate state law by doing so has the support of a Harvard University law professor and a California-based law firm.

Larry Lessig has started "The Electors Trust" in order to give free counsel to electors through the firm Durie Tangri. Lessig said his group will also give electors guaranteed anonymity so they can determine if there are enough electors set on keeping Trump from winning the presidency. "It makes no sense to be elector number five who comes out against Trump," Lessig told Politico. "But it might make sense to be elector 38."

A group of at least eight Democratic electors from Colorado and Washington have started an effort of their own, called the "Hamilton Electors," to lobby Republican electors to ditch Trump in favor of another GOP candidate. Because Trump has 306 electoral votes, they are trying to flip at least 37 Republicans, and the Hamilton Electors hinted Monday they would likely choose Ohio Gov. John Kasich (R) as the alternative to Trump. One Republican elector, Chris Suprun of Texas, went on the record Monday, writing in The New York Times that he will not vote for Trump when the members cast the official vote on Dec. 19. If the electors are able to block Trump's election, it would be sent to the House of Representatives.

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Catherine Garcia has worked as a senior writer at The Week since 2014. Her writing and reporting have appeared in Entertainment Weekly, The New York Times, Wirecutter, NBC News and "The Book of Jezebel," among others. She's a graduate of the University of Redlands and the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism.