Georgia's GOP Gov. Kemp again rejects Trump's demand to overturn Biden's win, says it would be illegal


President Trump urged Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp (R) twice on Saturday to call a special session of the state legislature so Republican lawmakers could name a pro-Trump slate of electors, despite Trump's loss in the state. After Kemp said no, four Georgia GOP state senators drafted a petition for an emergency special session, as Trump requested. Kemp and Lt. Gov. Geoff Duncan (R) again rejected the request in a joint statement Sunday, explaining that even if they wanted to use the legislature to overturn President-elect Joe Biden's victory in the state, the law wouldn't allow it.
The initial Georgia tally and a hand recount of paper ballots confirmed that Biden won the state by about 12,000 votes, and Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger (R) is expected to certify Monday that a second recount also affirmed Biden's victory. "I don't believe that there's the will in the General Assembly for a special session," Raffensperger told ABC News on Sunday. Kemp "is not going to call us into a special session," Duncan told CNN's Jake Tapper. "We're certainly not going to move the goal posts at this point in the election."
In their joint statement, Kemp and Duncan said calling a special session is "not an option that is allowed under state or federal law" — which, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution translates, is "a lengthier way of saying it was illegal." The General Assembly decided in the 1960s that Georgia would give all its electors to whoever won the popular vote in the state, though the legislature could change that method if the election was moved from the date set in federal law, the Journal-Constitution explains. Any attempt to change that process retroactively for Trump "would be unconstitutional and immediately enjoined by the courts." Kemp and Duncan explained.
Subscribe to The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
Kemp does support Trump's demand for a third audit of mail-in vote signatures, but that would be pointless, the Journal-Constitution reiterates. "Signatures were verified twice before absentee ballots were accepted, and conducting another check wouldn't change the outcome of the race because the signatures cannot be traced back to ballots."
Sign up for Today's Best Articles in your inbox
A free daily email with the biggest news stories of the day – and the best features from TheWeek.com
Peter has worked as a news and culture writer and editor at The Week since the site's launch in 2008. He covers politics, world affairs, religion and cultural currents. His journalism career began as a copy editor at a financial newswire and has included editorial positions at The New York Times Magazine, Facts on File, and Oregon State University.
-
Book reviews: 'America, América: A New History of the New World' and 'Sister, Sinner: The Miraculous Life and Mysterious Disappearance of Aimee Semple McPherson'
Feature A historian tells a new story of the Americas and the forgotten story of a pioneering preacher
-
Another messaging app used by the White House is in hot water
The Explainer TeleMessage was seen being used by former National Security Adviser Mike Waltz
-
AI hallucinations are getting worse
In the Spotlight And no one knows why it is happening
-
ABC News to pay $15M in Trump defamation suit
Speed Read The lawsuit stemmed from George Stephanopoulos' on-air assertion that Trump was found liable for raping writer E. Jean Carroll
-
Judge blocks Louisiana 10 Commandments law
Speed Read U.S. District Judge John deGravelles ruled that a law ordering schools to display the Ten Commandments in classrooms was unconstitutional
-
ATF finalizes rule to close 'gun show loophole'
Speed Read Biden moves to expand background checks for gun buyers
-
Hong Kong passes tough new security law
Speed Read It will allow the government to further suppress all forms of dissent
-
France enshrines abortion rights in constitution
speed read It became the first country to make abortion a constitutional right
-
Texas executes man despite contested evidence
Speed Read Texas rejected calls for a rehearing of Ivan Cantu's case amid recanted testimony and allegations of suppressed exculpatory evidence
-
Supreme Court wary of state social media regulations
Speed Read A majority of justices appeared skeptical that Texas and Florida were lawfully protecting the free speech rights of users
-
Greece legalizes same-sex marriage
Speed Read Greece becomes the first Orthodox Christian country to enshrine marriage equality in law