Preston Foster
March 5, 2024
Copyright 2024
The Supreme Court of the United States is the ultimate privilege club. This Court – the Roberts Court -- acts without shame, much less fidelity to the letter or the spirit of the law. It is both ironic and dangerous.
The explicit words of Section 3 of the 14th amendment were, somehow, not the basis of the Supreme Court’s decision to allow only the federal government to exclude candidates who have participated in an insurrection. Instead, acting as political prognosticators, the justices chose to forecast the political misuse of the anti-insurrectionist statute of the Constitution, then acted, pre-emptively, to “guard” against it.
Section 3 of the 14th amendment is specific and directly applicable to the January 6, 2021 insurrection, fomented and directed by Donald Trump.
In our view the Court’s concerns, expressed in yesterday’s decision, are an incredible cop out. The Supreme Court and courts of appeals exist to ensure that frivolous and politically petty decisions by states do not stand. It is not the job of the Supreme Court to manage the judicial system or the election process. Their job is to interpret the Constitution. Yesterday, the Court diverted attention away from the meaning of that text of the Constitution to, instead, their frets about the possible political consequences of upholding the Constitution. The assumed burden on the judicial system (based on the presumption of political misuse of the insurrection clause, by some) is not the issue. The issue is fidelity to the Constitution and its intent to protect the U.S. government from insurrectionists. Yesterday, we were not protected.
If the Constitution is subject to political engineering regarding insurrections, then we might as well welcome Mr. Putin and his comrades, as our republic is history.
