The six members of the conservative supermajority of the Supreme Court cast their ballots for Donald Trump on the last day of the court term, then ran out of town to begin their standard three months’ long vacation.
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(Speaker Mike Johnson leads GOP Members of Congress in prayer on the House floor – CSPAN)
Critical assistance for Ukraine, which was approved by the Senate, is languishing in the House. The same is true for assistance for Israel. The impending budget crisis which threatened to shut down the government was punted down the field again with an agreement that keeps operations going until the end of the fiscal year in September but threatens to come back in full force two months before the election.
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(Supreme Court Justices Sotomayor and Coney speak on, “How to Disagree Agreeably,” Feb. 23, 2024, National Governor’s Association, NGA via YouTube.)
My mother was always an optimist. She was sure that, given time, people could rationalize if not eliminate their disputes. In her vision, people of different races, different religions, and different economic positions could learn to live side by side and she was always correcting me if my big mouth strayed too far from civil discourse.
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One thing is clear about this year’s election for president. The Supreme Court intends to cast its vote. The Court, driven by the conservative majority, rushed to hand Donald Trump a victory the day before Super Tuesday, the day fifteen states, including Colorado, hold primary elections. It even went as far as to announce on a Sunday that it would be handing down a ruling the next day. And it leaked the subject so loudly every story that night predicted it would be a decision in Trump v. Anderson.
In Trump v. Anderson, all nine justices agreed that states lack the power to enforce Section 3 of the 14th Amendment against presidential candidates. All nine justices ruled in favor of Trump on this question. I’d like to pat myself on the back here because I predicted this outcome not long ago. I’d like to, but I won’t, because nearly every other court watcher made the same prediction.
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(There is an update below)
I really did not want to write about Donald Trump again so soon. I hate the way Trump dominates the news. I hate the way he steals our attention when we should be facing up to our challenges. I hate the way he sucks all the oxygen out of a room when his name is just mentioned. But Trump loves the attention, and he won’t stop attracting it. The danger our democracy faces from Trump is so great it is incumbent on anyone who values truth to speak out.
Trump was arraigned on Thursday, August 3rd, on four federal felony counts arising out of his action to retain his office even though he had lost his bid for reelection. He pled not guilty, and he was allowed to leave on what is known as a personal appearance bond. That bond doesn’t require that a defendant put up any money unless they violate the terms of the release or fail to show up in court.
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It would have been glorious. Can’t you just imagine the theater? Picture the big mouths of the Fox empire on the witness stand, Sean Hannity, Tucker Carlson, Rupert Murdoch and the lessor lights being cross examined. Answering questions from lawyers for Dominion Voting Systems. Knowing that the judge had already determined that the Fox personalities had lied about Dominion. Knowing that emails they and other Fox employees wrote, released to the public in various pre-trial motions, showed that the Fox operation was anything but a traditional news organization with a goal of informing the public as to the truth of events. Rather, the evidence demonstrated that the self-named “Fox News Channel” is a sham, pursuing ratings and the loyalty of its right-wing audience at the expense of all else.
We’ve seen plenty. But we will be denied seeing the next act of this long running drama. Dominion Voting Systems filed a $1.6 billion defamation lawsuit against Fox News for pushing false accusations that the voting company had rigged the 2020 election. The trial was set to last six weeks. But just after the swearing in of the 12-person jury in the Wilmington, Delaware courtroom, before the lawyers could make their opening statements, Judge Eric Davis announced a settlement had been reached.
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I’m beginning to think I have been going about this the wrong way. I write about the never-ending string of mass shootings. I tell the history of the Second Amendment. I deplore the right-wing Republican judges who overturn even the most reasonable legislation designed to curtail the endless supply of weapons. But here we are with another mass shooting. And on the same weekend, a single killing which would have been worse had it not been for some heroism by a church congregation.
A majority of the American people favor placing stricter limits on the ownership of guns. But the political leaders do not.
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