Coda: If Trump loses, a friend points out, don't forget about Kanye West.

As a coda to my last piece, If Trump loses, could Nancy Pelosi end up in the White House? I wanted to offer the observation of a lawyer friend from the Bay Area.

My friend pointed out that while Kanye West is not in the line of succession under the Presidential Succession Act, he may well come in third in the presidential contests behind Joe Biden and Donald Trump, as he appears to have qualified for the ballot in at least eleven states. Under the Twelfth Amendment to the Constitution, which effectively rewrote the rules originally set forth in Article II, should no candidate receive the 270 majority required to win the presidency in the Electoral College, the choice open to the House of Representatives for selecting President must come "from the persons having the highest numbers not exceeding three on the list of those voted for as President."

In the 1824 election, as described in detail here, Andrew Jackson won the popular vote nationwide and had 99 votes in the Electoral College, but did not win a majority. John Quincy Adams had 84 votes, William Crawford, the Secretary of the Treasury, had 41, and Henry Clay, the Speaker of the House, had 37. Clay, being fourth, was not eligible under the Twelfth Amendment.

The House or Representatives ultimately elected John Quincy Adams as president, giving him 13 votes, with 7 votes for Andrew Jackson and 4 for William Crawford. Adams later nominated Clay to be Secretary of State.

This time, if neither Joe Biden nor Donald Trump wins a majority in the Electoral College, and partisan hostility is such that neither candidate is able to garner a majority in the House under the one-state, one-vote rules, Kanye West could turn out to be the only other eligible candidate under the rules set forth in the Twelfth Amendment.

Stranger things have happened... 

Well, maybe not. 

As my friend closed his note to me, "I know it is a ludicrous proposition but it seems theoretically possible... There once was a time when Trump's becoming president was also a ludicrous proposition."