• agent_flounder@lemmy.world
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    10 months ago

    Hm. So I’m guessing they are going to say that disqualification can only happen at the federal level by a law defined by Congress. They don’t seem too concerned about an insurrectionist becoming president, not surprisingly.

    • ira@lemmy.ml
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      10 months ago

      That’s certainly a strange new precedent. I hope Congress gets to work quickly writing legislation for all the other amendments before a president realizes there aren’t laws spelling out how freedom of speech is defined or how to enforce it, etc. etc.

      • agent_flounder@lemmy.world
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        10 months ago

        No matter what we might wish were the case, some amendments can be further defined by law. So this isn’t a new precedent by any stretch.

        Amendment III comes right out and says law can define the details.

        No Soldier shall, in time of peace be quartered in any house, without the consent of the Owner, nor in time of war, but in a manner to be prescribed by law.

        So does XIII, section 2

        Section 2. Congress shall have power to enforce this article by appropriate legislation.

        And XV, section 2

        Section 2. The Congress shall have the power to enforce this article by appropriate legislation.

        And, most apropos, XIV Section 5.

        Section 5. The Congress shall have the power to enforce, by appropriate legislation, the provisions of this article.

        So there it is right there.

        Of course constitutional law is complicated. I don’t know what I don’t know. There are other solid arguments for and against, no doubt. But “unprecedented” isn’t one of them, it seems.

      • shalafi@lemmy.world
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        10 months ago

        There are mountains of case history on the other amendments. This one is truly new.

    • girlfreddy@lemmy.ca
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      10 months ago

      Mostly because it’s not SCOTUS’ job to make laws … they’re simply there to interpret what Congress has passed. Which is pretty much how high courts operate everywhere, including Canada, the UK, etc

      • Varyk@sh.itjust.works
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        10 months ago

        Right, but as it is their job to interpret laws and the constitutionality of lawsuits and this lawsuit alleges that dumps is constitutionality prohibited from office, this is exactly their job.

        • girlfreddy@lemmy.ca
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          10 months ago

          The problem is SCOTUS rules with original intent as the prime basis, so any in-depth ruling would take a long time for them to deliver. Kavanaugh said as much when he questioned what the word “insurrection” actually means.

    • irotsoma@lemmy.world
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      10 months ago

      Cool, then let’s put Ariana Greenblatt on the ballot and make them make a law on how to disqualify children.