A Troubling Electoral Plan

The California Senate has passed a bill that would do an end run around the U.S. Constitution, by forcing our state's electoral votes to be cast not for the majority winner of California's votes, but for whoever leads the popular vote nationally.

California would enter into a compact with several other states to cast their votes in this manner.

State Senator Tom McClintock calls the plan "brazenly unconstitutional." It certainly raises all kinds of questions in my mind. I wonder if the compact would be constitutional; I particularly wonder about the equal protection clause, insofar as Californians' votes would have less worth because the entire nation would be deciding how the state's electoral votes are cast, rather than just Californians.

I'd hope that the idea is going to stop with the State Senate, but with our liberal state legislature, I wouldn't be surprised if it ends up on Governor Schwarzenegger's desk.