02/05/24
Keep in mind that 1,265 people have faced charges related to the violence at the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021.
Keep in mind that 460 people have gone to jail.
Former President Trump was impeached for inciting that violent attempt to overthrow the U.S. government. But Trump remains a political force because the U.S. Senate refused to convict Trump after his impeachment. That left him free to run for president again.
The top Senate Republican explained why Congress dodged acting against Trump by pointing to prosecutors and judges as the proper actors to hold Trump accountable: “We have a criminal justice system in this country,” said Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.).
But federal prosecutors looked away, too, refusing to indict Trump for fear they’d be charged with playing politics by going after a former president.
Now, state officials and judges in Maine, Colorado and New Mexico have ruled that Trump can’t run for president again, because the 14th Amendment explicitly bans anyone involved with insurrection from holding political office.
Trump’s lawyers say the states are wrong, because Trump has never been convicted of anything.
This week they will ask the justices of the U.S. Supreme Court to abdicate their responsibility as the last line of defense of the Constitution by arguing that it is not clear that the 14th Amendment applies to the presidency.
They will also contend that to keep Trump off the ballot is to deny voters the right to vote for their candidate.
If the pro-Trump lawyers win, the Supreme Court’s justices will join all the other scaredy-cats who pretend not to have lived through a Trump-incited attack on the U.S. government that resulted in deaths.
Note that no one is arguing that Trump was not involved in the insurrection and is not covered by the 14th Amendment ban on insurrectionists.
“There’s no question, none, that President Trump is practically and morally responsible for provoking the events of the day,” McConnell said in explaining why he did not vote to convict Trump after the House impeached the former president for his role in the Jan. 6 attack.
“The people who stormed this building believed they were acting on the wishes and instructions of their president…[and the] false statements, conspiracy theories, and reckless hyperbole which the defeated president kept shouting into the largest megaphone on planet Earth,” said McConnell, who remains the top Republican in the Senate.
Retired federal judge Michael Luttig, a conservative, also agrees that Trump took part in the insurrection and should be disqualified from appearing on the ballot.
Having “incited, and therefore engaged in, an armed insurrection,” Luttig wrote, Trump “disqualified himself [from running for office again]… [because the] insurrection sought to prevent the vesting of the authority and functions of the presidency in the newly elected president.”
The major remaining argument against the high court enforcing the law is that it is wrong to stop Americans from voting for the person they want to be president.
A secondary argument is that Congress, not the court, should decide if Americans cannot vote for Trump.
“But it’s also important to remember,” according to Noah Bookbinder, the president of the Committee for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington, “that we already did let the people decide about Trump. In 2020, the people decided they didn’t want Donald Trump as president, he refused to accept that result, and he ultimately incited a violent insurrection,” Bookbinder said. “There is no basis to think we can do the same thing in 2024 and get a different result.”
Bookbinder’s group will be arguing for Trump to be kept off state ballots.
Several historians are also calling on the justices to follow the original intent of the 14th Amendment.
Failure by the Supreme Court to ban Trump from ballots, according to Sean Wilentz, a leading historian at Princeton University, “will trash the constitutional defense of democracy,” which was clearly designed by Congress to prevent a repeat of efforts by Confederates to secede from the national government that led to the Civil War.
Trump committed insurrection, Wilentz argues, and must face the consequences.
I’d argue that no one man — not even the current frontrunner for the GOP nomination — should be above the law.
What happens if Trump loses again? Will the high court send the message that he is free to stir up another insurrection?
If all the guardians of democracy look the other way, there will be nothing to stop him from once again trying to impose authoritarian rule over the nation with violence.
Justices John Roberts, Clarence Thomas, Sam Alito, Neil Gorsuch, Amy Coney Barrett and Brett Kavanaugh make up the six-member, conservative majority on the court. Three of them were nominated by Trump.
Lady and gentlemen, conservatives on the court, this is your moment to reaffirm that America is a nation of laws, and those laws, beginning with the Constitution, apply to all men and women.
In 2000, the nation watched as the Supreme Court effectively decided the presidential election. A lot of people were shocked. I certainly never thought I would see it again in my lifetime.
Now, I am hoping that I do. This time, fidelity to the Constitution demands it.
A lot depends on the decision our Supreme Court will be making in this case. It’s practically the last chance for Ukraine getting help from us again. With a positive decision, meaning that the orange crook is allowed to be banned from state ballots, the maga terror in the House will be effectively over. Not all will drop their undemocratic behavior, but enough will do so to allow the new bill to be put through.
It’s also the last chance for the United States as a law-abiding and democratic nation. If they allow the orange crook to run for president, then I’ve lost every bit of faith that I had in this country. And, we will be entering dark times.
Chances for a positive decision would be much higher if Trump had already been convicted by a court for his role in the January 6th attack on democracy. Alas, thanks to horribly indecisive AG Merrick Garland, that didn’t happen. And so, there’s a strong legal argument now that “in dubio pro reo” should prevail. I expect that the Supremes will decide that a mere accusation, without a conviction, ain’t enough to deny a candidate the chance to run for president. I don’t like this at all, but that’s the sad reality, thanks to Biden’s very bad idea to make Garland head the DoJ. That demanding job should have gone to someone with a much stronger backbone.
The reason the left has not filed such charges is that there was no insurrection. They know they have nothing. State level prosecutions are also faltering.
You’re delusional.
Bullshit. In my eyes, that was an insurrection.
Here is a good article that gets into the details. Surely, you’ll find it interesting.
https://www.vox.com/scotus/2024/2/6/24054902/supreme-court-trump-anderson-disqualification-insurrection-fourteenth-amendment
That’s a rather lame defence by Trump’s lawyers, indeed. But since he’s well know not to pay his attorneys, he doesn’t get the best anymore. Only those who are desperately seeking media spotlights.
“Only those who are desperately seeking media spotlights.”
They are the typical lawyers we call shyster. In German, I think dubious lawyers are called rechtsverdreher.
Those people jailed for the supposed “insurrection” were jailed lawlessly. The US is not a law abiding country. The left loves chaos and it is going to increase. I have serious doubts Trump will be allowed to win. The left is now desperate to keep Trump out and is already been planning what they will do to prevent his accession to the White House again.
Apparently, you’re one of those Trumpsters who prefer wishful thinking to sound reasoning, Ohengineer. The convictions of the January 6th traitors are based on solid legal grounds. Only sore losers who deliberately ignore facts would deny that.
Oh, come on, Oh, is this your honest opinion?
At any rate, the chaos begins with another Trump presidency, that’s for sure. He’s not elected yet, by far, but the chaos is already upon us. Just look at the mess in the House.
An application for a US visa contains many guidelines. Eg: Does or did the applicant have any connection or affiliation with the Nazi Party? Does the applicant support the persecution of people for their religious beliefs?
Russia is a Nazi country inflicting genocide. It’s beyond dispute.
Also beyond dispute is the fact that Russia tortures Ukrainian Orthodox Christians, Evangelicals, Protestants, Tatars, Jews, Krymchaks and many others. Put it another way: you are only safe (relatively) if you are in communion with the Satanic “church” of Kirill Gundyayev.
So why do any RuZZians at all (except for known democratic opposition) get in to the US? Why do any izlamonazis get in?
Why does the US have to be coy about blatant naziism?
It follows that those who support and give succor to genocidal Nazis are surely committing a crime? That should end Trumpkov’s candidacy right there.
Is it a wonder that we let scum into our country when many of our politicians are themselves scum? We even had presidents who are scum.
Any uncertainty about this ballot issue could have been avoided if effing Merrick Garland had pushed ahead with a federal lawsuit against the traitor-in-chief in 2021. Totally wrong decision by Biden to appoint that indecisive procrastinator to this important position, just to troll the Rethuglicans (it obviously was a revenge for them refusing to vote M. G. into the Supreme Court). Garland may had been able to become an acceptable judge at that court, but he’s a total failure in an executive job. That horribly false decision has history-changing consequences. Thanks to this clown “leading” the DoJ, there’s the high risk of a Trump nomination now. This shouldn’t have been allowed to happen. The brazen renegade belongs into prison!
Prosecutors have to pick their battles carefully. They have been trying to get Trump, but all the prosecutions are now faltering. They did not choose their battles wisely.
I don’t think that’s true, just read the new article about Trump’s embarassing setback when claiming innunity because of alleged executive priviledge. No way, the judges decided, even the president is bound by law! So, a success for the prosecution in the Colorado case, but time is running disturbingly short to prevent Trump from getting nominated. The defence strategy apparently is to delay a binding decision until it’s too late.