No Kings.
As we celebrate the Fourth, let's remember that Americans took on a great power and won because the people are more powerful than kings and autocrats.
The John Roberts Court wrapped up another session with its hostility towards ordinary Americans on full display. No Court should have the power to do this kind of damage to our democracy. As we celebrate the Fourth of July, the dangers of this power concentration are particularly poignant.
The Constitution is too important to be entrusted to nine unaccountable people. It’s not that we are unable to find nine people worthy of such an awesome responsibility. More often than not, we have. But when we fail, and we get a Court like the Roberts Court, the damage caused is simply too great.
Congress needs to follow up on President Biden’s Commission on the Supreme Court and make changes that will protect our democracy well into the future. But they can’t do that without us. We, the people, must act to repair the damage caused by a corrupt, power-hungry court.
The first, best, and easiest way to do that is to elect Democrats to the White House and Congress. A second, harder path is to amend the Constitution. A third, well, I’ll get to that…
Smarter people than I are surely thinking about the constitutional weaknesses this Court has opened and exploited. Here are a few ideas for Constitutional amendments to correct the damage already done:
No Kings. This one should be obvious. The need now arises because the Roberts Court has broken with American history.
Section One: The President is not above the law.
Section Two: The judicial branch may not interpret this amendment in any manner to limit its effect.
Money in politics. This one responds to the obscene gusher of dark money corrupting our politics that the Court unleashed in its spurious Citizens United decision.
Section One: The First Amendment of the Constitution is amended by adding a new section as follows.
Section Two: Money is not speech, and political spending is not entitled to the same protection as political speech.
Voting. The Roberts Court has gutted the Voting Rights Act, and in Bush v. Gore the Court said, “The individual citizen has no federal constitutional right to vote for Electors for the President of the United States.” I would like to get rid of the electoral college, but even short of that there are things we can do:
Section One: Every citizen is equally entitled to vote in federal elections.
Section Two: Voters are entitled to vote for Electors for the President of the United States, and the outcome of their vote shall determine the results.
Impeachment. As we saw in the failed impeachments of Donald Trump, partisan bias, and the biases built into the legislature through gerrymandering and the nature of the U.S. Senate membership, mean Impeachment no longer works as a check on Presidential overreach. This can be solved by voters.
In the case of a Presidential impeachment, after being impeached in the House and tried in the Senate, within one month from the end of the Senate trial there will be a national vote to determine the outcome of impeachment. The popular vote total shall determine the outcome.
There is a third thing we need to do. In addition to voting for Democrats and amending the Constitution, Americans need to organize in vast numbers. For too long, those fighting for justice and progress have relied on lawyers and the courts. Real progress in American history comes from mass social movements. Think about the Wide Awakes before the Civil War. Think about the labor, suffrage, and civil rights movements. Think about the mass awakenings that gave us our environmental laws and brought gay Americans out of the shadows. We are not helpless against powerful and greedy interests.
The last time we had a king, Americans did not like it. When the King gave a monopoly to the East India Company to trade in tea, the result would have lowered the cost of tea to Americans. And yet, furious that it would also have confirmed the King’s right to impose laws without consent, Americans rebelled by dumping a shipload of tea into Boston Harbor. Today that would look something like this:
Just saying.
#supremes