This is GPS, the Global Public Square. Welcome to all of you in the United States and around the world. I'm Faris Zakaria coming to you live.

Today on the show, President Trump announces his nominee for the Supreme Court.

Judge Amy Coney Maron. What do we know about her? What does this mean for an America that will now have a decidedly conservative Supreme Court?

I'll ask two distinguished experts. And at the UN on Tuesday, the Iranian President said his people were grappling with the harshest sanctions in history.

Then the US laid on more sanctions on Thursday. I interviewed Iran's Foreign Minister this week about the effects of America's maximum pressure campaign, the fate of the nuclear agreement, and Iran's recent execution of a local sports hero.

But first, here's my take. By declining to commit to a peaceful transfer of power, President Trump has agitated many who feel he will refuse to leave office even if he loses the November election and may even resort to violence.

But the terrifying reality is that there are also mechanisms that are legal and constitutional that could enable Trump to stay in office without actually winning the vote.

The system of electing the president is complicated because it was not designed to be directly democratic. The Constitution calls for states to choose the presidential electors who in turn gather to vote for the president.

Over time, states have passed laws that ensured their state's popular vote for the presidency would determine the electors. But those are laws, not a constitutional obligation.

Now, imagine the scenario during election week. Trump is leading on November 3, but Joe Biden pulls ahead in the days following.

Republicans file objections to tens of thousands of mail-in ballots, Democrats file counter-suits, taking account of the confusion.

Legislators decide to choose the electors themselves. Here's the worry. Of the nine swing states, eight have Republican legislatures.

If one or more decide that balloting is chaotic and marked by irregularities, they could send what they regard as the legitimate slate of electors, which would be Republican.

Democrats may object and file lawsuits in some of those states' democratic governors or secretaries of state could send their own slate of electors to Washington.

That would add to the confusion, but that might well be part of the Republican plan. Because you see when Congress convenes on January 6th to tally the electors' votes, there would be challenges to the legitimacy of some electors.

It's possible congressional Republicans could decide that disputed states should simply not be counted.

Suppose in the scenario Michigan's votes are invalidated, that would ensure that neither candidate would get to 270 electoral votes.

At that point, the Constitution clearly directs that the House of Representatives vote to determine the presidential election.

But it does so with each state casting a single ballot.

If the current numbers hold, there would be 26 state delegations that are Republican and 23 Democratic with one tide.

So the outcome would be to reelect Donald Trump. Trump doesn't need to do anything other than to simply accept this outcome, which is constitutional.

Thanks to Tom Rogers and Tim Worth for their writings on this topic.

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