Best SCOTUS JUSTICES Money Has, Bidenomics-Inconvenient Facts, Civility, Principles, Decorum, Deficit, Debt & Other GOP Hits, Fake It ’till You Make It, FEIGNED OUTRAGE VS DIGNITY, Gish Gallop Debacle, God Bless the USA Bible, GUILTY-12 JURORS, 1 FELON, INFLATION WOES, Project 2025, State of the Union Rebuttal, The Boy(s) Who Cried Wolf, The Facts, Please, Trump ’25-Make America Corrupt, Trump Absurdities, Unintended Consequences, VOTER APATHY 2024, Voter Motivations, Voters: DUI or Asleep??
In 1649, King Charles 1 was brought to trial for treason. He stated, “no earthly power can justly call me (who am your King) in question as a delinquent … this day’s proceeding cannot be warranted by God’s laws; for, on the contrary, the authority of obedience unto Kings is clearly warranted, and strictly commanded in both the Old and New Testament … for the law of this land, I am no less confident, that no learned lawyer will affirm that an impeachment can lie against the King, they all going in his name: and one of their maxims is, that the King can do no wrong … the higher House is totally excluded; and for the House of Commons, it is too well known that the major part of them are detained or deterred from sitting … the arms I took up were only to defend the fundamental laws of this kingdom against those who have supposed my power hath totally changed the ancient government.”
Or, to put it another way, he had absolute immunity. If that sounds familiar, enter Trump and the Supreme Court Injustices.
For those of you that had the benefit of a genuine education before the “no child left behind” doctrine took effect and essentially stupefied our kids, and the more recent book banning movement that attempts to change history by refusing to teach about it or learn from it, you might recall the formation of our Constitution and the hurdles it had to get over in order to form the Country as a united group of states.
Alexander Hamilton was of the firm belief that the leadership should be a Monarch. It was Thomas Jefferson and James Madison who felt strongly that they, like so many colonists who just finished a hard-fought REVOLUTIONARY WAR with Britain to gain their independence from a tyrannical King, did not want to revisit that type of failed governance and that the idea of fighting to get away from a King only to go back to having one was not desirable. Hamilton eventually acquiesced and the leader would be called President and elected by the people every 4 years. At the same time, they worried about the effect of “mob rule’ so they created a bicameral Congress. They also wanted a system of CHECKS AND BALANCES so that Congress could not enact legislation to the detriment of the country and the President could not exercise their powers outside of the law. Central to this idea was the concept of “Blind Justice,” that justice was for all and no one was above the law.
In interpreting the Constitution, there are essentially 3 main ideologies (although each are nuanced into additional subcategories):
- Originalism – requires that the Constitution and laws must be interpreted strictly as the authors and those that voted to ratify originally understood the words and their meanings at the time. The original meaning of the words can never change.
- Living Document – calls for an interpretation of the Constitution based on evolving societal standards and not the actual wording, per se… This was hinted at (but actually not initially embraced) by Thomas Jefferson in a letter to James Madison in which he stated, “I am not an advocate for frequent changes in laws and constitutions, but laws and institutions must go hand in hand with the progress of the human mind. As that becomes more developed, more enlightened, as new discoveries are made, new truths discovered and manners and opinions change, with the change of circumstances, institutions must advance also to keep pace with the times. We might as well require a man to wear still the coat which fitted him when a boy as civilized society to remain ever under the regimen of their barbarous ancestors.” A similar sentiment was openly displayed by Madison himself (who was a strict constructionist/textualist at the time) when he stated at the Constitutional Convention, “In framing a system which we wish to last for ages, we should not lose sight of the changes which ages will produce.” Both founders understood the fact that change was inevitable and the Constitution would have to be interpreted differently despite both men sharing a similar interpretational ideology at the time of their writing and subsequent to its passage.
- Textualism – requires interpretations of the Constitution based on the ordinary meaning of the text at the time of it’s writing, but without regard to what the intent of the writers may have been trying to deal with. It is closely similar to “strict constructionism” which is a far narrower interpretation.
Most, if not all, of the conservative Supreme Court Justices claim to be outright Textualists or Textualists with a secondary Originalist leaning. Frankly, their recent rulings prove their professed leanings to be utter bovine excrement… That’s right, BULLSH*T!
Whether it’s the recent bump stock ruling claiming it is a second amendment right to turn a semi-automatic rifle into an automatic rifle (at the time of the writing of the 2nd amendment, the meaning of the word “arms” meant a muzzle loaded, single shot rifle. A bump stock wasn’t invented yet, nor was the high-powered semi or fully automatic rifle. Accordingly, viewed through the eyes of an originalist or a textualist, there is no way they could arrive at that decision.)…Or the Presidential Immunity ruling that flies in the face of 250 years of plain reading and even violates the Presidential Oath of Office to uphold the Constitution.
In their most recent abomination of Constitutional Law, this current crop of black-robed acolytes licking the boot straps of the Cheeto running for President again, granted ALL PRESIDENTS IMMUNITY, starting with Trump. They added the caveat that it only applies to official acts done in the course of their official business. So, giving an order to the Military to invoke Marshall law?? Immune. Ordering that the Constitution be set aside?…immune. Ordering that anyone who disagrees with his policies be jailed or put to death? …immune. The bar is so low as to be non-existent. In short, they went against EVERY PRINCIPLE that the Constitution was meant to enshrine and threw away 250 years of precedent and spat on the Rule of Law. . And getting back to these supposed textualists or textualists with originalist leanings, show me where the Constitution states a president is immune or above the law? Where does it crown a president King?? Find the text and I’ll go along.
The sad reality is that the Supreme Court that used to stand for something has fallen for anything Trump wants, hook, line, and sinker. These self-aggrandizing blowhards are devoid of any substantive content or character. Devolving into the steaming pile of waste that they have turned the Supreme Court into, they have defecated on our Flag, our Constitution, our Democracy, on the rule of law, and on each American. There is no way to paint this picture in any warm light. The only hope is that they live long enough to regret their hand in dismantling 250 years of Democracy and putting it in the hands of an unintelligent, monosyllabic blabbering Troglodyte. History will not be kind to them, nor the millions of Americans who thought it was a great idea to elect him, and those who want to do it again knowing the evil that he is.
I recall when my kids were young and one of them cussed in front of me. I told my kids then that they could swear only after they learned at least three proper words (not slang) that were synonyms for the cuss word they wanted to use, and used them properly in sentences.
I was thinking about that as I pondered the recent events. Unfortunately, there are no synonyms for the unmitigated sh*t-show CNN permitted to be on full display with their so-called debate. Just as there are no synonyms for the Supreme Court Injustices that simply sh*t on our Democracy and wiped their collective asses with the U.S. Constitution and the Rule of Law.