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Notes -
Trump case out on him being an insurrectionists.
https://www.supremecourt.gov/opinions/23pdf/23-719_19m2.pdf
Compared to the Reddit debates and how the SC would prevent this as a non-lawyer I thought the opinion was fairly basic and simple. It seems to me that they just declared it a Feds power in Federal elections and the States don’t get a say. Personally, I did come to a belief that it was self-executing.
I think they avoided really touching on all the novel legal theories both ways going around on Reddit or twitter.
It came down to what I believe was one of my original views that letting States have any say in declaring someone an insurrectionists would be a complete clusterfuck and basically turn into state legislatures electing Presidents. Therefore they declared it a federal power.
I would call this pragmatic versus legally correct in my opinion. They avoided 100 page treatise on whether the President is an office holder.
I predicted something between 7-2 and 9-0. 9-0 seems better for the nation.
I guess I accidentally predicted it here?
Accidental, since I was thinking less about Constitutionality and more about avoiding judicial abuse. Which, well, this decision certainly takes that off the table. Is that a problem?
I want to know how many state procedures just became unconstitutional. Is a state still allowed to keep someone off the ballot for being a foreign citizen, or otherwise violating the Constitutional requirements in Article II? If those don’t require an explicit act of Congress to enforce, why did the 14th Amendment need Section 5?
As for pragmatism—I’m not seeing it. Sometimes the legal theory is straightforward. They didn’t digress to talk about officeholder status because they thought it wasn’t even in question. See pages 9 and 10, where they use laws about state and federal officeholders as examples.
The most pragmatic/least legalistic bit was Barrett’s concurrence. I don’t know if it’s normal for a Justice to address Americans directly, but I don’t care for it. “Hey guys, try not to get too mad at our political maneuvers!”
There's actual case law on the natural born citizen test. Both Obama and McCain were challenged in state courts with claims that they weren't. Courts decided that they didn't have the power to delve into the issue unless the candidate admitted they weren't qualified.
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