Justice Sonia Sotomayor has recused herself from one of the “faithless electors” cases pending before the Supreme Court because of her friendship with one of the parties involved in the lawsuit.
The clerk of the court informed the parties in a letter on Tuesday that Sotomayor would not participate in the case that will decide the enforceability of Colorado laws that threaten to penalize a presidential elector if they refused to vote for the candidate they pledged to support, commonly referred to as “faithless electors.” The case is cited as the Colorado Department of State v. Michael Baca, et al.
Harris added that Sotomayor will still participate in a similar case from Washington state, cited Chiafalo v. Washington. The two cases, which were initially consolidated, will be heard separately.
Polly Baca, a former Democratic Colorado legislator, is one of the respondents in the Colorado case who sued the state to block the enforcement of its law that direct how electors perform their duties and impose consequences when they fail to do so.
“Polly, you know how much I love you, and how much I love your senators, who both voted for me,” Sotomayor replied.
Meanwhile, some states allow the vote to stay but would impose a penalty on the elector. Some states also allow both the canceling of the vote and a penalty.