EPOCH TIMES
Merry Christmas! Wishing you and your family a peaceful and joyous festive season.
By Peter Svab
The Colorado Supreme Court made big headlines this week by banning former President Donald Trump from the state’s ballot. The ruling, however, is unlikely to stand, many lawyers and constitutional experts have said.
In a 4-3 decision, the court declared on Dec. 19 that Trump “engaged in insurrection” by inciting a crowd to storm the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021. Because under Colorado election law only qualified candidates can be placed on the ballot, it would be “wrongful” for the Secretary of State to let on the ballot a candidate disqualified under Section 3 of the 14th Amendment, which bars from office anybody who has previously taken an oath of office and later engaged in an insurrection.
Several constitutional experts told The Epoch Times the U.S. Supreme Court is likely to pick up the case and reverse the ruling.
The question remains, however, on what grounds the court will choose to do so. Some have argued that what Trump engaged in wasn’t an insurrection. Some have argued that he would first need to be convicted of the crime of insurrection to be disqualified. Some said the state court lacked jurisdiction to make the ruling. Some said the expedited civil process was insufficient to satisfy Trump’s due process rights. Some said the disqualification clause doesn’t apply to the president in the first place.
One expert predicted the Supreme Court is most likely to use the last argument because it would allow it to keep itself the most out of the political quagmire in particular and elections in general.
“A more conservative court often tries to resolve a matter in the most straightforward way possible with the minimum need for a deep engagement on the part of the court. So I would say it is actually highly likely that they simply say, ‘As a matter of statutory construction, the office of Presidency was never contemplated for this,’” said Horace Cooper, a senior fellow with the National Center for Public Policy Research, who formerly taught constitutional law at George Mason University.
Alan Dershowitz, constitutional and criminal defense attorney who previously represented Trump, expects the Supreme Court to focus on Section 5 of the 14th Amendment, which says that “the Congress shall have power to enforce, by appropriate legislation, the provisions of this article.”
“It’s up to Congress to enforce it and they haven’t done it,” he recently told OAN.
The Colorado justices argued that the rest of the 14th Amendment is “self-executing,” meaning no Congressional action is necessary to implement it. But Dershowitz’s point steered more toward the question of what would be the proper venue for disqualifying a candidate
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“Think about it logically,” he said. “The writers of the 14th Amendment were radical Lincoln Republicans in favor of Reconstruction. Do you think they would turn the issue over to Alabama and Mississippi to decide who can run for President? That’s the last thing they would have done. They wanted a centralized power, obviously, in the Congress, not in a Confederate state.”
In Cooper’s view, however, this argument “doesn’t work.”
He pointed out that Section 1 of the 14th Amendment says that “no State shall make or enforce any law which shall abridge the privileges or immunities of citizens of the United States; nor shall any State deprive any person of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws.”
“Clearly the 14th amendment has requirements for state Courts,” he said.
“Section 5 empowers Congress to enact statutes such as the Civil Rights Act etc. to enforce the terms of the 14th Amendment. If the Supreme Court were to take Dershowitz’ advice they would create a great deal of confusion for state Courts that presently enforce these protections within their jurisdiction.”
In the final calculation, the Colorado ruling could be a boon for Trump. It’s likely to fire up his supporters who’d perceive it as unfair.
“The ruling by the Colorado Supreme Court will almost assuredly backfire on both Democrats and Republican rivals who have been hoping for these developments for months,” said Rich Baris, director of Big Data Poll.
“In our most recent poll, 40 percent of the president’s primary support told us they would write his name on the ballot if for any reason he was not the nominee—the highest percentage we’ve measured this cycle.”
The practical impact of the ruling would be limited even if it remains in force. A candidate doesn’t need to be on the ballot in all 50 states to win and Trump is unlikely to carry the deep-blue Colorado anyway.
On the other hand, the ruling reinvigorated efforts in other states to knock President Trump off the ballot, including in New York, California, Michigan, and Pennsylvania. A loss of ballot access in all these states would severely injure his chances, raising the stakes for the Supreme Court intervention.
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NBC Reporter Visibly Shocked By Massive Number of Illegal Border Crossings
By Sarah Arnold
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And so it goes:
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Turn Out the Lights, the Country's Over: TSA Accepting Arrest Warrants as ID for Illegal Immigrants
By LINCOLN BROWN
I wish, oh how I wish I could tell you that the headline is a joke. It almost has to be a joke, right? No sane country would accept an arrest warrant as a form of ID, right? Well, this is no longer a sane country. But you probably already know that by now. But no one, even in an opium-induced fever dream, would think that the TSA would accept an arrest warrant as a form of legal ID. But it apparently does, and I think at this point, any doubts that the inmates have taken over the asylum or that there is a cabal so dedicated to left-wing ideology that no idea, no matter how ludicrous, should be taken off the table, can be put to rest. I would very much like to believe that this administration has lost its mind and is randomly pushing buttons until something happens. But we can't take evil off the table. We would be stupid if we did.
For non-citizens and non-U.S. nationals who do not otherwise have acceptable forms of ID for presentation at security checkpoints, TSA may also accept certain DHS-issued forms, including ICE Form I-200 (Warrant for Arrest of an Alien)...All passengers whose identity is verified through alternate procedures receive additional screening before being allowed into the secure area of the airport.
This refers to a civil immigration arrest warrant, not a criminal one—because entering the U.S. illegally is not a crime anymore. And yes, the person in question's document "will then be validated via an 'alien identification number' being checked against a number of Customs and Border Protection (CBP) databases." Let's see a conservative try to get through the TSA checkpoint with any kind of "warrant." That would end quickly and not well.
Once upon a time, not long ago, an arrest warrant meant that you would be arrested. Hence, the name. It's right there: "arrest warrant." If you are a conservative who happened to be within ten city blocks of the capitol on J6, you should expect a knock on your door if you haven't had one already. Ditto if you are a traditional Catholic who may or may not have protested outside of an abortion clinic. Or if you posted a meme about Hillary Clinton. But if you are an illegal alien who legitimately deserves to be arrested, so much so that you have a copy of your arrest warrant, no problems. Would you like to be part of the preferred boarding? Can we open your bag of almonds? Would you like a mimosa before we take off? As Southwest Airlines used to say, "You are now free to move about the country."
Of course, there is the inevitable punchline. This policy dates back to before the Biden administration. But now that things have gotten completely out of hand at the border, the GOP is finally worried about this. Thanks, guys. According to Fox, the issue became a bona fide thing when Texas Republican Lance Gooden's office was sent a packet by a whistleblower that included "flight information, copies of the Notice to Appear from Customs and Border Protection (CBP), a list of pro bono legal service providers, maps of major cities in the U.S. and information and legal assistance in Spanish." There is also a letter that can be handed to TSA officials that will let the bearer board a flight with "limited credentials."
This is why conservatives lose hope in the GOP. This process has been in place for a while. Who knows? If our elected officials had taken this issue seriously from the start, we may have avoided issues like the 9/11 attacks. But now that everyone is rearranging the deck chairs on the Titanic and ordering room service on the Hindenburg, it's a problem? Barn door: closed. Horse: gone.
Mrs. Brown and I like to travel when we can. She still wants to see the wonders of the world. I am perfectly content to sit my fat keister down in the sand in the Gulf of Mexico and watch the tide come in while nursing a Mai Tai. But between honeymoons, vacations, mission trips, and business outings, we have had plenty of experience with the TSA hokey pokey. I have it down to a science. First comes juggling the ticket and my driver's license. Then, off come the shoes and the belt, the pockets are emptied, and everything goes into the bin as I raise my hands over my head in supplication to the gods of the TSA and their all-scanning eyes. It's gotten so that depending on the line, I can waltz through the checkpoint in a matter of minutes and start heading for the bar while the random woman behind me is still struggling to put on her flip-flops. I have some sympathy for the TSA agents and even trade a few jokes with them when time permits. I have no beef with them, and I prefer to be polite, no matter who is squatting in the Oval Office. But who knew that all I needed to do was become a foreign national with an arrest warrant?
I have to know: Is an immigration arrest warrant good for buying booze and smokes? I know it has to be the perfect form of ID for voting under this administration.
Lincoln Brown
Lincoln Brown is a former talk show host who hosted "The Lincoln Brown Show" in Utah. He is also an ex-wildland firefighter, truck driver, bartender, HazMat responder, and columnist whose work has appeared in Townhall.com and The Hill. He also holds a Master’s Degree in Theological Studies.
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Fitton says accelerate:
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STOP MESSING AROUND! Republicans Must Accelerate Biden Impeachment! ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ |
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