The Fourteenth Amendment, the refuge of harried criminal defense lawyers who belatedly throw it in their motions to suppress to impress the Judge that the US Constitution's Bill of Rights applies to the States, may just be what we need in these troubling times.
We've all read the first section, but did you know there are five sections of the fourteenth? And the third section seems most appealing these days to a weary blogger's eyes:
No person shall be a Senator or Representative in Congress, or elector of President and Vice President, or hold any office, civil or military, under the United States, or under any State, who, having previously taken an oath, as a member of Congress, or as an officer of the United States, or as a member of any State legislature, or as an executive or judicial officer of any State, to support the Constitution of the United States, shall have engaged in insurrection or rebellion against the same, or given aid or comfort to the enemies thereof. But Congress may by a vote of two-thirds of each House, remove such disability.
So what were they thinking when they drafted this section? We think they were contemplating today. No, not the Internet and Starbucks and Kardashians, but we surmise the drafters were contemplating a situation in which a populist with antidemocracy ideas runs for office after trying to topple the government. Granted they probably did not contemplate stopping the reelection of a President who incited a rebellion, but they drafted the amendment broad enough to cover such an unforeseen situation.
Insurrectionists? They were ready for that. Nuts wearing furs and horns rampaging through Congress and egged on by the President? Probably not.
7 comments:
Are you suggesting that Cruz or Hawley, based on their conduct and actions last week, could be disqualified from future office? I have seen discussion that they should be censured which would kick them out of the Senate.
I think they should be investigated. Which of course raises this issue. The more Ted Cruz is in the media and on TV the more grief Brian Tannebaum gets because they look so much alike.
Words matter. They cause people who wear fur and horns to do dangerous things. Over 50% of all republicans honestly think there were serious irregularities in the vote count that affected the election. This after dozens of failed lawsuits.
Words matter. And the words of Trump Cruz and Hawley have ripped this nation in half. They have acted irresponsibly by pandering to a right wing. They should be punished. Cruz especially should know better. Trump thinks his father was involved in killing Kennedy. And yet he put aside his family for his naked ambitions. It’s a Stab in the back of this country’s values.
Words matter. Look at the propaganda of Nazi Germany and Stalinist Russia. Look at the damage that did. Over 30 million innocent people killed between those two countries propaganda.
Words matter.
Early last week, Donald Trump fired one of his own federal prosecutors: Byung J. "BJay" Pak, a Trump-appointed U.S. Attorney in Georgia, was abruptly ousted because Trump expected Pak to chase his baseless voter-fraud conspiracy theories. When the prosecutor failed to satisfy the White House's political agenda, he had to go.
Christine met with the FBI, GBI and the Department of Homeland Security on his first day in Atlanta to get briefed on election cases, he said. So far, Christine said the election cases were overblown, and cited the two cases he closed last Wednesday. "In my opinion, there is no there, there," he said.
In other words, Trump fired Pak because Trump believed the Republican federal prosecutor was failing to take seriously evidence of election fraud. Trump then tapped Bobby Christine for the job, only to discover that Christine also can't find evidence of election fraud.
Let's not forget the larger context: Trump and his followers have acted with certainty that fraud ran rampant in Georgia. It's partly why Trump has lashed out wildly at the state's Republican governor, Republican lieutenant governor, and Republican secretary of state, each of whom have had the audacity to tell the truth about their own state's election results.
And now, two of Trump's own handpicked federal prosecutors in Georgia have come to the same conclusion. Reality has a tendency to be stubborn.
From the Washington Post today.
Glowing concurrence today in Third DCA discussing Wilkie Ferguson by T. Logue. Ferguson was a class act in state and federal court.
Right after I left Government service for private practice Wilkie appointed me to represent a defendant charged with raping a 16 year old on his own wedding night. He was caught right in the act by the cops. Incredibly he was acquitted. Wilkie granted my attorney fees motion and in those days we did it by affidavit of a fellow attorney and it was larger than my last years pay in Government service back in the late 70s. He was a wonderful trial judge and a true gentleman. He left us much too soon. Every time I walk into federal court at the building named for him I remember what a quiet wonderful judge and human he was. He was a class act and there are none like him on the bench either in state or federal court now.
Note that the 14th doesn’t seem to require a guilty verdict at an impeachment trial. Apparently, any political candidate would have standing to disqualify DT by proving that he “engaged in insurrection or rebellion against the same” even without prior impeachment.
Note that the 14th doesn’t seem to require a guilty verdict at an impeachment trial. Apparently, any political candidate would have standing to disqualify DT by proving that he “engaged in insurrection or rebellion against the same” even without prior impeachment.
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