Tuesday, July 2, 2024

SCOTUS Violated Article V of the US Constitution, Not Once, But Three Times

Per the National Constitution Center “Article V of the Constitution says how the Constitution can be amended—that is, how provisions can be added to the text of the Constitution. The Constitution is not easy to amend: only twenty-seven amendments have been added to the Constitution since it was adopted.”

Arguably, SCOTUS violated Article V in Trump v. US by granting immunity to the President in doing so it makes holding the President accountable next to impossible.  SCOTUS tipped the scales resulting in an unequal power between the three branches of our government.

I believe SCOTUS violated Article V two other times with:

  1. DC v. Heller and
  2. Citizen United v. FEC

In DC v. Heller. SCOTUS re-wrote the lone sentence of the Second Amendment by lobbing of the prefatory clause, which materially altered the interpretation of it.

In Citizen United v. FEC, SCOTUS inferred First Amendment (1A) rights upon corporation, which arguably infringes upon a “person’s” 1A right.


Monday, July 1, 2024

Are We an Ethical Nation That Acts Responsibly?

SCOTUS ruled that a President has immunity for official acts, but not unofficial acts. We are in a tough spot.

We do not have a complete list of “official acts” for a President to my knowledge; moreover, the separation between official and non-official acts is arguably not distinct.  In other words, I believe it is hard to determine when an official act transitions to a non-official act, an act that could be criminal.  In short, Donald J Trump will most likely not be tried for crimes to deny the will of the voter (how else do you describe what Trump advocated on January 6, 2021?), which makes it easier for him to win a second term.

But….

That is all noise. I contend we are not an ethical nation that acts responsibly, else we would not be in this situation.

Maybe I/we should not expect much when our country, the land of the free and home of the brave, was founded on the backs of slaves. We are still dealing with the fallout from the longstanding institution of slavery; its ill effects still negatively impact us today as represented by the MAGA movement. 

I can go on, but if we want to have freedoms than we must be responsible and ethical.  Arguably, our nation's founders were not responsible and ethical just like King George was not responsible or ethical. Just because one can do something, that does not mean one should (right King George, George Washington?).  

You may be wondering what happened to religion.  Well, religion is not our savior.  Religion is about control, money, power.  Arguably, it is a creation of man. 

Wow.  It seems all complicated; it need not be.  

We must have the courage to be honest, to hold ourselves accountable before we hold others accountable. We did not arrive here overnight; it will take fortitude. Hopefully, things will go our way so we may make it as we learn to be more responsible and ethical.