Jamison Foser points to the "elephant in the room nobody wants to talk about" as the Supremes hear the Trump disqualification case:
"The justices themselves cannot possibly be unaware of the threats and actual violence other public officials, including judges, have faced for implementing the 14th Amendment’s disqualification of Trump."
"Media coverage and conversation of today’s Supreme Court arguments will largely ignore this two-month wave of violence and threats of violence targeting judges and other government officials. It’s absent from the New York Times’ 'five takeaways' piece, for example, and from the dozens of entries in the Times’ liveblog about the case."
Robert Reich discusses the likely outcome of the Colorado case before the Supreme Court, and then he concludes,
"Let me add my disappointment — outrage would be a better term — that Clarence Thomas did not recuse himself from this case, given the abundant conflicts of interest he has in the issue."
"The US Supreme Court faces a simple question when it comes to today’s hearing on whether Donald Trump’s name should appear on primary and general election ballots this year: Is Trump constitutionally qualified to seek and hold the office of the presidency?
The answer to that question—if the justices honestly interpret the clear language of the United States Constitution—is equally simple: No."
Cowardly #SCOTUS Justices Appear Skeptical of Arguments to Kick #Trump Off State Ballots
The #SupremeCourt heard arguments about whether TFG’s attempts to subvert the #2020election#disqualify him from again holding office. Justices across the ideological spectrum questioned several aspects of a ruling from the #Colorado Supreme Court.
#SCOTUS on Thurs seemed prepared to keep #Trump on the #Colorado ballot, expressing deep concerns about the ability of a single state to disqualify a candidate from seeking national office.
As the Supremes decide whether the plain text of the Constitution counts or does not count — originalism, don't you know — Timothy Snyder offers a valuable compendium of his own essays on the 14th amendment, as well as others that have helped him understand the issues here.
As David Pepper notes, the guarantee clause in the Constitution guarantees democracy to every state in the Union.
Yet today, "the fact that we are falling short of that guarantee clause in dozens of states lies at the heart of the overall downward spiral of democracy we are seeing today. It is a threat separate from Trump—it preceded Trump, and if he were disqualified or locked up tomorrow, it would remain."
McClintock's position means #Republicans are down another vote as they try to impeach Mayorkas w/a razor-thin House majority. Rep #KenBuck (R-CO) is also opposed, w/several other Republicans undecided.
#McClintock wrote in a 10-pg memo that the articles of impeachment drafted by the #HomelandSecurity Cmte “fail to identify an impeachable crime that Mayorkas has committed.”
"In effect, they stretch & distort the #Constitution in order to hold the administration accountable for stretching & distorting the #law," he added.
"As you’ve probably heard by now, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit, in a unanimous ruling, rejected the claim by Donald J. Trump that he is immune from prosecution for acts he took while he was president, upholding Judge Tanya Chutkan’s previous ruling to that effect."
~ Lucian K. Truscott
Hell, yes, the law applies to Donald J. Trump if it means anything at all.
"Under Section 3 of the Fourteenth Amendment, Trump disqualified himself from office on January 6th, 2021, at the very latest, when he violated his oath of office and took part in an insurrection. All that remains to be seen is whether the Supreme Court will find some way to re-qualify him."
"It seems clear that the men who wrote the Reconstruction Amendments expected men like former president Trump to be disqualified from the presidency under the Fourteenth Amendment, as 25 distinguished historians of Reconstruction outlined in their recent brief supporting Trump’s removal from the Colorado ballot."
"But the Fourteenth Amendment did far more than ban insurrectionists from office. Together with the other Reconstruction Amendments, it established the power of the federal government to defend civil rights, voting, and government finances from a minority that had entrenched itself in power in the states and from that power base tried to impose its ideology on the nation."
"Don’t forget that whether Trump engaged in insurrection or not and whether he’s eligible to run for office again is only an issue because Senate Republicans failed to convict Trump when he was impeached after January 6. They could have put the matter to rest back then and spared the country this trauma. Donald Trump can only run for the presidency because they failed us."
"Anyone who can read the Constitution knows that Donald Trump cannot hold office."
~ Timothy Snyder
Anyone who can read the Constitution knows that Donald Trump cannot hold office: period. Full stop.
What those arguing otherwise are telling us is that they do not think the Constitution applies to Trump — or to Republicans and to themselves. Just as they do not think the law applies to them….
These #Texas#traitors don't seem to be aware that the #Constitution explicitly prohibits member states from leaving the union. There is no legal mechanism for Texas to declare its independence from the #UnitedStates. So, what we're talking about is armed rebellion, and criminal charges for those who participate. These people are all about law & order until abiding by the law is inconvenient to their desires. Then, they're freedom fighters. 🙄
"Congressman Chip Roy (R-TX) is publicly urging Texas to ignore the Supreme Court. In previously unreported comments, Roy explained that he feared his position would push the country into "a post-constitutional world." But, Roy said, the Supreme Court is 'pushing our hand' by issuing a ruling related to the southern border that he opposes, and the Supreme Court needs to 'feel the pressure.'"
"Major law firms and numerous prominent corporations are financially backing Roy's reelection campaign, according to a Popular Information analysis of federal campaign finance filings."
These law firms include Covington & Burling and Akin Gump, both D.C.-based.
"It makes sense for Abbott and today’s reactionary Right to adopt these neo-confederate arguments. In a way, they are just explicitly emphasizing the tradition in which their political project stands, as they are once again defying the federal government and deploying 'states’ rights' in order to justify inhumane brutality in service of upholding white nationalist domination."
"The fact that this argument was resoundingly defeated – politically and on the battlefield – does not matter to them: The Republican Party and the extremist Right are all in. …
“'The border' plays an enormously important role in the collective rightwing imaginary, and propagating the idea of a foreign 'invasion' in the form of migrants is a central part of how the Right mobilizes its supporters."
Republican judge in Illinois finds that Trump engaged in insurrection & is disqualified under 14.3. He ultimately finds a higher court, not the electoral board, must decide this. First Republican judge in the nation to issue such findings!
-John Bonifaz
"The issue is not whether the Constitution declares Trump unfit to hold that office. Rather, the question is whether people are faithful, loyal, and brave enough to say so, and act accordingly. That is not only important for local and state election officials and state and federal judges." (continued in /2)
"It is important for every citizen of the United States, no matter who we might favor in the 2024 presidential election contest. …
Donald Trump attempted an insurrection against the United States on January 6, 2021. Section 3 of the Fourteenth Amendment to the Constitution prohibits him from holding any political office, including the office of President of the United States. The Constitution is the supreme Law of the Land, not Trump’s popularity."
"Twenty-five historians of the civil war and Reconstruction filed a US supreme court brief in support of the attempt by Colorado to remove Donald Trump from the ballot under the 14th amendment, which bars insurrectionists from running for office."
"If the court does not 'honour the original meaning of the 14th amendment and disqualify Donald Trump', [Sean] Wilentz writes, 'it will trash the constitutional defense of democracy designed following slavery’s abolition; it will guarantee, at a minimum, political chaos no matter what the voters decide in November; and it will quite possibly pave the way for a man who has vowed that he will, if necessary, rescind the constitution in order to impose a dictatorship of revenge.'”