"The argument that [barring Trump from the ballot on Constitutional grounds] would be undemocratic is nonsense. Democracy is not just elections; it’s also a broader system of rules, laws and norms. Even if you think democracy is mostly about elections, you can’t support having Trump as president again, because he only supports elections if he is declared the winner."
The question remains for #MikeJohnson and others who cite the Bible as their “rule book”: Will they follow the #Constitution when it’s in conflict with their religious views? If not, they should resign.
The #gqp has become a vessel for #White Christian nationalism, which seeks to impose “a worldview that claims the U.S. is a Christian nation and that the country’s laws should therefore be rooted in Christian values.” [NPR]
“It’s the #Constitution of the #UnitedStates that’s disqualifying the former president from higher office …. It’s not President #JoeBiden, it’s not the #Democrats, it’s not the anti-Trumpers—it’s the Constitution of the United States.”
"The 14th Amendment is the only reason that the original Constitution isn't a dust-bound relic of antebellum America, slavery and all. It is a living demonstration of the fraudulence of 'originalist' constitutional theory. The 14th changed everything, and all of it for the good. It reduced the corrosive hypocrisy at the heart of the nation's founding documents."
"Section 3 was enacted for such a time as this, and for such a figure as Trump."
Our #Constitution gives us tools to protect against those who undermine our democracy, and we must use them.
Civil rights lawyer Sherrilyn Ifill writes in a powerful amicus brief to #scotus in Trump v. Anderson, the case that may determine whether Donald Trump would be eligible to hold office.
#Section3 of the #14th Amendment is the #constitutional provision at the heart of the appeal before the justices. Oral arguments are set for next Thursday.
This section bans insurrectionists from office who previously swore to support the Constitution, isn’t a “historical relic” but rather was “designed to ensure that the ambitious rights that the 14th Amendment guarantees can withstand the resistance that its framers knew was sure to recur — not just in the immediate post-War period, but far into the future.
IVG: un vote pour l’histoire, mais pas sans mémoire
L’inscription de la liberté d’avorter dans la #Constitution française est une première mondiale. Sa portée symbolique est considérable. Mais elle n’efface ni les difficultés à accéder réellement à l’#IVG, ni l’instrumentalisation politique qu’en fait #EmmanuelMacron.
While some on the right portray accountability for the Jan. 6 Capitol riot as just another partisan dispute, two prominent conservative legal scholars have made the case that the Constitution disqualifies former President Trump from public office....
"Top NYT Editor Offers Stunning Defense of Coverage of Trump."
"The failure to clearly describe Trump's plan to cancel prosecutions of himself & other elements of his legal strategy as threats to the system itself, that is, as efforts to put himself above the law."
"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….
Sidney Blumenthal on how the Colorado Supreme Court ruling provokes a crisis of legitimacy for the US Supremes and for "the entire conservative methodology":
"The conundrum for the court is that it can rescue Trump only by shredding originalism and textualism. There is no more originalist and textualist case to be made than this one."
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."
IVG dans la constitution: "La liberté peut être restreinte là où le droit doit être garanti", alerte le syndicat des avocats de France (classé à gauche). "Il est dangereux de qualifier de "liberté" un droit fondamental tel que celui d’accès à l’avortement", écrivent les robes noires, qui déplorent que la loi ne mentionne pas les personnes trans'. A lire https://lesaf.org/constitutionnalisation-de-livg-un-leurre-grossier
President Volodymyr Zelensky said on Aug. 17 that he had signed a law changing how Constitutional Court judges are chosen, which is necessary to launch EU membership talks.
On Thursday, the #scotus will be hearing arguments where lawyers for the criminal defendant are arguing that all former presidents are forever immune from criminal prosecution for any official acts done in office.
Failure to respect the election of a new President, is the ultimate crime against the people, who are the basis of government. The President, by constitutional design, should have no role- official or unofficial-in the determination of the people's
vote. Immunity for the crimes here alleged would be most abhorrent to the Framers, because immunity would upset the constitutional scheme and aid a President in overriding the people's power over him.
The Framers would also have been appalled that Trump, despite having left office, seeks permanent immunity. As a Federalist wrote for the Maryland ratifying convention:
It seems, however, that the president may possibly be continued for life. He may so, provided he deserve it.
The Framers did not put an immunity clause in the #Constitution.They knew how to, and they did not. They did not provide immunity to the president. Wasn't the whole point that the president was not a monarch and the president was not supposed to be above the law.
"Some issues in American politics are complicated and nuanced. This is not one of them. Trump, the great clarifier, isn’t campaigning on reducing the national debt or expanding free school lunch programs. His platform is that he will shrug off any constraints on his power to govern however he sees fit if he wins the presidential election next year."
"His promise of a 'day one dictatorship' is a toe dip into pure authoritarianism, a way to normalize his anti-constitutional impulses and yoke the rest of the Republican Party to them. To deny that Trump is seeking this outcome at this point is to help him make it possible."
"Evangelical MAGA lawyer Michael Farris (who helped lead the effort to overturn Roe v. Wade) has acknowledged in a videotaped interview from 2022 that reversing Roe was just an interim step. In fact, he and his colleagues plan to also amend the U.S. Constitution to ban abortion in all 50 states 'from conception until natural death' once they amass enough power.
[Opinion - Legal Analysis] The Constitution bars Trump from holding public office ever again - Donald K. Sherman (thehill.com)
While some on the right portray accountability for the Jan. 6 Capitol riot as just another partisan dispute, two prominent conservative legal scholars have made the case that the Constitution disqualifies former President Trump from public office....
Zelensky signs law changing constitutional court selection procedure (kyivindependent.com)
President Volodymyr Zelensky said on Aug. 17 that he had signed a law changing how Constitutional Court judges are chosen, which is necessary to launch EU membership talks.