this post was submitted on 04 Jan 2024
262 points (83.4% liked)

politics

19080 readers
4542 users here now

Welcome to the discussion of US Politics!

Rules:

  1. Post only links to articles, Title must fairly describe link contents. If your title differs from the site’s, it should only be to add context or be more descriptive. Do not post entire articles in the body or in the comments.

Links must be to the original source, not an aggregator like Google Amp, MSN, or Yahoo.

Example:

  1. Articles must be relevant to politics. Links must be to quality and original content. Articles should be worth reading. Clickbait, stub articles, and rehosted or stolen content are not allowed. Check your source for Reliability and Bias here.
  2. Be civil, No violations of TOS. It’s OK to say the subject of an article is behaving like a (pejorative, pejorative). It’s NOT OK to say another USER is (pejorative). Strong language is fine, just not directed at other members. Engage in good-faith and with respect! This includes accusing another user of being a bot or paid actor. Trolling is uncivil and is grounds for removal and/or a community ban.
  3. No memes, trolling, or low-effort comments. Reposts, misinformation, off-topic, trolling, or offensive. Similarly, if you see posts along these lines, do not engage. Report them, block them, and live a happier life than they do. We see too many slapfights that boil down to "Mom! He's bugging me!" and "I'm not touching you!" Going forward, slapfights will result in removed comments and temp bans to cool off.
  4. Vote based on comment quality, not agreement. This community aims to foster discussion; please reward people for putting effort into articulating their viewpoint, even if you disagree with it.
  5. No hate speech, slurs, celebrating death, advocating violence, or abusive language. This will result in a ban. Usernames containing racist, or inappropriate slurs will be banned without warning

We ask that the users report any comment or post that violate the rules, to use critical thinking when reading, posting or commenting. Users that post off-topic spam, advocate violence, have multiple comments or posts removed, weaponize reports or violate the code of conduct will be banned.

All posts and comments will be reviewed on a case-by-case basis. This means that some content that violates the rules may be allowed, while other content that does not violate the rules may be removed. The moderators retain the right to remove any content and ban users.

That's all the rules!

Civic Links

Register To Vote

Citizenship Resource Center

Congressional Awards Program

Federal Government Agencies

Library of Congress Legislative Resources

The White House

U.S. House of Representatives

U.S. Senate

Partnered Communities:

News

World News

Business News

Political Discussion

Ask Politics

Military News

Global Politics

Moderate Politics

Progressive Politics

UK Politics

Canadian Politics

Australian Politics

New Zealand Politics

founded 1 year ago
MODERATORS
 

One of Donald Trump’s lawyers appeared to accidentally admit that the former president may have engaged in insurrection.

Christina Bobb, a vocal 2020 election denier, tried to argue Tuesday night that voters should be able to elect anyone they want for president.

“The president is elected by the entire nation, and it should be the entire nation who determines who they want for president, whether they are guilty of insurrection or not,” Bobb said during an interview on Real America’s Voice. “It’s up to the people.”

Bobb seems to be arguing that even an insurrectionist should be allowed to run the country, which could be seen as an admission of guilt.

you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments
[–] Candelestine@lemmy.world 8 points 10 months ago* (last edited 10 months ago) (2 children)

What part of the insurrection clause is so misunderstood?

Section 3. 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.

edit: I just don't get it. It seems like very clear language to me

[–] Rivalarrival@lemmy.today 7 points 10 months ago (1 children)

Nobody actually misunderstands Section 3. Everybody knows what it means. Some disingenuous fuckwits have tried to pretend they don't actually understand it.

They have argued that what Trump did does not rise to the level of "insurrection". They argued that he did not actually take up arms, but merely "spoke" to people. They argued that he is entitled to "speak" under the First Amendment, and that his "speech" cannot therefore be considered insurrection.

And they have argued that even if his actions did rise to the level of insurrection, the oath he swore as president did not actually include the phrase "support the constitution". The oaths of all other individuals mentioned explicitly do include that phrase, so the argument is that the framers never intended to include the presidency. Since he never swore an oath to "support" the constitution, either as president or earlier in his life, he is not bound by this limitation, and is free to commit insurrection whenever he wants.

And they have argued that even if it was insurrection, and his oath was interpreted in such a way as to apply, the office of "President" is either the United States itself, or above the United States, and not "under" the United States.

And they have argued that even if it was insurrection and his oath was interpreted properly and that the office of President is an office "under" the United States, he is still able to be re-elected because Section 3 is inoperative. This argument relies on Section 5:

Section 5.

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

The theory is that Congress has not enacted any law under Section 3 to actually bring it into operation, so the whole section remains dormant and unenforceable.

[–] Candelestine@lemmy.world 2 points 10 months ago

Heh, funny how the constitution has no problems specifying sole power vs power, which torpedos that final argument entirely.

Who has the "sole power" of impeachment, for instance?

[–] LastYearsPumpkin@feddit.ch 4 points 10 months ago

They're claiming the Office of the President doesn't technically fit into any of the offices listed in the 14th amendment.

The office of the president is a weird one. For example, the president is the commander of the military, but is not a part of the military. The president is a civilian position (and technically, the president shouldn't be saluting troops.) So if the president violates the Uniform Code of Military Justice, but not a civilian law, they couldn't be tried for that.

CLEARLY the 14th amendment would include the president, but lawyers do what lawyers do.